Halliburton Layoffs
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By 0x0077BE [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons
This first post is a recap of the layoffs at Halliburton since the recent crash
Being one of the largest oilfield services companies, and the cyclical nature of the oil industry, layoffs at Halliburton are inevitable. When we see headlines about thousands of layoffs happening all at once, it will nearly always be the largest companies that are doing it. A fact of large numbers that don't bear a relation to a companies culture or personnel policies.
As with the other layoff posts in our community, we'll get the discussion started with a brief account of the past few years announcements. Beginning with the oldest, getting to the latest. Then as layoffs at Halliburton get announced, or are speculated upon, we can add new posts to the thread.
The recent oil crash of late 2014 to 2017 started to bite during early 2015.
February 2015 saw an official announcement where the company indicated that it would cut 6400 jobs or 8% of its workforce. The start of 2015 was the bottom of the first leg of the crash, where oil prices had halved in the previous five months from around 110 down to 50 per barrel. Cost cutting was the order of the day.
Unsurprisingly, Halliburton's competitors were doing the same thing around that time. (Schlumberger said it would lay off 9,000 employees. Baker Hughes said it would cut 7,000 jobs. Weatherford said it would lay off 8,000 workers).
In January of 2016, Halliburton announced that it had cut 4000 of its workers in the last quarter of 2015.
Exactly a year after the first significant round of cuts, in February 2016, 5000 more job cuts were announced. Most oil price crashes are relatively shortlived with six months being typical. We'd now seen the second leg and prices at around $30 per barrel.
The oil supply glut, expansion in the US onshore production and excitement surrounding solar energy made many people wonder if we'd seen peak oil supply. (Few think that now at the time of writing this).
In July 2016, the failed bid for Baker Hughes contributed to a multi-billion ($3.2B) dollar loss for the company. This loss was mainly due to the break-up fee it was required to pay Baker Hughes under their merger deal.
5000 Halliburton layoffs got announced, totalling 35,000 or 40% of its global workforce since the beginning of the oil price crunch. We realised that this was the worst crash since the 80's, and many were left wondering what would have happened to the deal during a boom or at least a period of relative stability.
Many O+G leaders say that stable prices are better than high prices so that better investment decisions can be planned.
Comments
Halliburton has cut 8% of its workforce
They've taken out fleets during the second quarter of 2019, and cut staff by approximately 8%, according to company spokesperson Emily Mir. This decrease is due to the slowdown in the onshore shale boom where Halliburton provides hydraulic fracturing services.
Exact numbers aren't available, but napkin maths indicates perhaps 4800 of a 600k global workforce. Second-quarter profits crashed from $511m to $75m from the same period in 2018.
650 layoffs of US staff
Yesterday a company spokesperson confirmed that 650 US-based staff had been let go. These staff members were from the states in the area of the Rocky mountain range. Most employees were given the choice to move to a different area and stay with Halliburton
Emily Mir responded to an email from Rigzone to confirm the number and said:
The facility in El Reno, Oklahoma is going to be closed, and as a result, 808 employees will be laid off. Frac equipment and crews used this as a base, as well as functioning as a remote command centre. Some of the operational sides of things will get moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, but the job cuts are permanent. Thin margins were mentioned as a reason for stacking equipment, and retrenching staff.