SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                              Washington, DC. 20549



                                    FORM 8-K



                             Current Report Pursuant
                          to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
                         Securities Exchange Act of 1934



    Date of report (Date of earliest event reported)  October 14, 1997
                                                    ------------------



                               UNOCAL CORPORATION
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             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



                                    Delaware
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                 (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)



           1-8483                                    95-3825062
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(Commission File Number)                 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)



2141 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 4000, El Segundo, California                90245
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(Address of Principal Executive Offices)                         (Zip Code)



                                 (310) 726-7600
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              (Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code)






Item 5.           Other Events.

On October 14, 1997 the following news release was issued:


                            UNOCAL NAMES TIMOTHY LING
                           AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
                           --------------------------


     El Segundo, Calif., Oct. 14, 1997 -- Unocal Corporation today announced the
appointment of Timothy H. Ling,  39, as the company's  chief  financial  officer
effective October 15.

     Ling succeeds Neal E. Schmale,  51, who is leaving Unocal after 29 years of
service to pursue other business interests.

     Ling has been an employee of McKinsey & Company since 1989 and a partner of
the firm since 1994. He has broad consulting experience in corporate finance and
strategy with a client base that included major  utility,  energy and commercial
banking firms.

     For the past seven years,  Ling has been leader of the McKinsey  consulting
team working with Unocal, focusing on development of the company's new corporate
strategies and the improvement of Unocal's asset and growth portfolios.

     Ling  holds  a  bachelor's  degree  in  engineering  geology  from  Cornell
University and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

     Unocal is a leading global energy resource and project development company,
with  reserves of more than 9.8  trillion  cubic feet of natural gas  equivalent
(1.6  billion  barrels  of oil  equivalent)  and  major  oil and gas  production
activities  in  Asia  and  the  U.S.  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  company  maintains
headquarters in both California and Malaysia.

     News  releases  and other  information  about  Unocal are  available at the
company's website, www.unocal.com.




Pursuant  to the  requirements  of the  Securities  Exchange  Act of  1934,  the
registrant  has duly  caused  this  report  to be  signed  on its  behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.




                                          UNOCAL CORPORATION
                                             (Registrant)




Date:  October 14, 1997                   By:  /s/ JOSEPH A. HOUSEHOLDER
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                                           Joseph A. Householder
                                           Vice President, Tax and Comptroller