Schlumberger to cut jobs in Houston

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) plans to cut its workforce in Houston as it contends with supply and demand pressures and closes facilities outside the metro area.

The oil field services giant confirmed Houston layoffs are in the works but declined to provide more information about how many people will be affected.

Schlumberger has already implemented a furlough program in Houston earlier this year. It is also planning 51 more layoffs elsewhere in Texas as it closes two facilities associated with one of its subsidiaries, Cameron International. Cameron also plans to close a facility in Moore, Oklahoma, affecting 74 employees. That facility is slated to lay off its employees in June and July.

“In Texas, Schlumberger has accelerated the restructure of its land-based operations by reducing its personnel and instituting furlough programs, by business line and location. These organizational changes are expected to continue over the next couple of months,” Schlumberger said in an emailed statement. “In light of these realities, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce in Houston and close both our Cameron facilities in Kennedy and Corpus Christi, Texas.”

Schlumberger and others in the oil and gas business are dealing with problems from both sides of the supply-demand equation. Social distancing as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a massive reduction in demand for transportation fuels, while a price war between OPEC member states and other large, oil and gas producing countries has layered on further pressure.

“This combination has created shocks in both oil supply and demand, resulting in the most challenging environment for the industry in many decades,” Schlumberger said. “As a direct result of this environment, much of our operational capacity is unneeded, and some of our facilities are underutilized.”

Job cuts associated with the latest price crisis are likely to come in two waves. The first wave is associated with the cessation of some portion of the industry’s operations and typically involve layoffs among field personnel. The second phase will come later, when companies go bankrupt and much-anticipated consolidation sweeps across the sector. Layoffs in that wave will hit hardest among corporate support staff, engineers and other technical employees — the kinds of people who work in Houston, in other words.

Schlumberger has primary offices in Houston, Paris, London and The Hague.

By Joshua Mann – Senior Reporter

Courtesy of Houston Business Journal

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2020/05/08/schlumberger-to-cut-jobs-in-houston.html