Unocal Prepares to Sell Fertilizer Unit in Brea

Unocal Corp., an oil and natural-gas explorer, said it will restructure its West Coast fertilizer business as a separate company, Prodica LLC, to make it easier to sell.

Brea-based Prodica will be wholly owned by Unocal, which has said it wants to focus on finding and producing oil and gas. The fertilizer business, which Unocal has owned for about 45 years, sells nitrogen-based agricultural products in the western United States and throughout Mexico and industrial chemicals throughout North America.

The business, which will adopt the Prodica name Oct. 1, can better build its identity and brand as a subsidiary, Unocal said. It will remain based in Brea, with manufacturing plants in Kennewick, Wash., and West Sacramento. No personnel changes will be made.

Prodica will have more than 30 distribution centers and about 350 commercial customers. Along with fertilizers, the business makes industrial chemicals, including nitric acid, urea, ammonia and sulfuric acid. Most of the company’s approximately 250 employees are based in Sacramento and Kennewick.

El Segundo-based Unocal had 1998 sales of $5 billion. Last year, the company reorganized its ammonia and urea fertilizer operations in Kenai, Alaska, into Alaska Nitrogen Products LLC.