Chevron Corp , the second-largest U.S. oil company, said it planned to put several downstream operations up for sale, including its Pembroke refinery in the UK, and eliminate 2,000 jobs this year.

Downstream market conditions are likely to be difficult for the next several years, Mike Wirth, executive vice president for Chevron's global downstream, said in a statement to its annual meeting with analysts in New York.

Wirth said he would continue to cut jobs into 2011 and expected after-tax severance charges of $150 million to $200 million in the first quarter of this year.

Chevron will further concentrate its refining and marketing -- or downstream -- portfolio in North America and Asia Pacific, while soliciting bids for certain operations in Europe, the Caribbean and Central America, and reviewing its operations in Hawaii and Africa, outside South Africa.

John Watson, who took over as Chevron's chief executive officer at the start of 2010, said separately that he anticipated a substantial rise in oil and gas production in the middle of the coming decade as the portfolio shifts toward Asia and natural gas.

Chevron shares were down 0.6 percent at $74.20 in trading before the market opened.

(Reporting by Braden Reddall; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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