By Shariq Khan and Liz Hampton
DENVER (Reuters) -U.S. oilfield companies supplier Halliburton has been chopping employees in latest weeks, in accordance with two sources accustomed to the matter, marking the most recent workforce discount within the U.S. oil business because it faces rising prices and a interval of decrease costs and volatility.
International benchmark Brent crude oil costs have dropped greater than 10% this 12 months amid uncertainty over world commerce insurance policies and because the Group of the Petroleum Exporting International locations and allies increase output. U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips this week introduced it might lower as much as 25% of its employees to scale back prices.
The scope of Halliburton’s layoffs was not instantly clear.
Halliburton has rolled out the cuts over a number of weeks, in accordance with the sources, who had been straight concerned in layoffs however not licensed to talk publicly. At the very least three enterprise divisions had misplaced between 20% and 40% of workers, the sources mentioned.
Halliburton, the third-largest world oilfield companies firm by income, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Oilfield companies corporations present technical experience, tools, and labor, together with drilling, to help oil and fuel exploration and manufacturing.
Houston, Texas-based Halliburton had 48,395 workers on the finish of 2024, in accordance with its newest annual report.
The corporate in June mentioned it anticipated a pointy decline in full-year income, because it warned of decrease exercise within the oil and fuel sector. It posted a 33% fall in second-quarter revenue this 12 months amid weaker demand.
On a convention name with analysts after reporting second-quarter earnings, CEO Jeff Miller famous the oilfield companies market appeared very completely different than it did 90 days in the past, citing a slowdown in North America and amongst massive nationwide oil corporations elsewhere.
“To place it plainly, what I see tells me the oilfield companies market can be softer than I beforehand anticipated over the brief to medium time period,” he mentioned.
Brent crude was buying and selling beneath $66 on Friday, down almost 20% from this 12 months’s peak north of $82 a barrel in mid-January, as traders braced for the OPEC+ group’s assembly on Sunday. Reuters earlier reported the group will take into account elevating output additional at that assembly.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Shariq Khan in New York; Further reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney in HoustonEditing by Rod Nickel)