Not Every NE Driller is Laying Off Workers – Some Buck the Trend

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Lately it seems the news has been bad when it comes to layoffs and cutbacks in the northeast shale drilling industry. We recently had the bombshell that Schlumberger is cutting 9,000 jobs because of low oil prices (see Schlumberger Firing 9,000 to Reduce Head Count, “Low Oil Prices”). Then Baker Hughes announced layoffs of 7,000 (see Baker Hughes Announces 7,000 Layoffs Due to Low Oil Price). Both are national layoffs–we don’t know how many of those jobs are in the northeast, but the northeast is the biggest shale region in the U.S. at the moment, so it stands to reason some (many?) will come from our neck of the woods. Today Chevron announced they’re laying off 162 people in the Pittsburgh area (see our lead story today). Almost every major Marcellus/Utica driller has announced major cuts in their capital expenditure budgets for 2015–from Range Resources and Antero Resources to the much smaller firms like Rex Energy and Stone Energy. Less spending on drilling = cutbacks in jobs, at least jobs at oilfield services and other related companies. So when we saw a story that says “wait a minute, we’re not cutting jobs”–and the people saying it are the heads of big Marcellus/Utica drillers, that caught our attention…

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