Schlumberger, the world’s largest provider of services to the oil and gas industry, has announced new round of job cuts. On top of the 9000 layoffs announced in January, the company has said it will let go 11.000 more workers, citing cuts in capex made by oil companies due to falling oil prices.

Schlumberger Chairman and CEO Paal Kibsgaard said: “In spite of the detailed preparations we made in the fourth quarter, the abruptness of the fall in activity, particularly in North America, required us to take additional actions during the quarter. These included the difficult decision to make a further reduction in our workforce of 11,000 employees, leading to a total reduction of about 15% compared to the peak of the third quarter of 2014.”

Schlumberger said it recorded a $390 million pretax charge during the first quarter associated with this headcount reduction as well as an incentivized leave of absence program. The company employs approximately 115,000 people representing over 140 nationalities and working in more than 85 countries.

It did not say where in the company the announced cuts would be made or when exactly.

“Looking at the macro environment, the global economy continues its steady recovery, and oil demand is still expected to increase by 1 million bbl/d in 2015. However, the significant reductions in E&P spend are starting to impact supply in both North America and internationally, and supply is expected to tighten further in the second half of the year,” Kibsgaard said.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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