Oilfield Services Employment Diving to 10-Year Low
Oilfield services sector is set to reach the lowest total workforce count in over 10 years, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, low oil prices, and cuts in spending by the oil companies."The oil market turmoil brought on by Covid-19 has led to lower-than-anticipated activity and delayed projects, forcing the industry to deploy cost-cutting measures. Rystad Energy analysis of the top 50 oilfield service (OFS) firms shows that staffing is set to reach its lowest level in more than 10 years, with the anticipated revenue per employee also declining towards the previous downturn’s level
Hunting Slashes 25% of Workforce
Oilfield services group Hunting Plc has cut its workforce by a fourth as low oil prices and weak demand slammed most of its business units in the second quarter, the company said on Monday.The manufacturer and services provider, which had 2,956 employees across its global operations at the end of last year, said it would cut 739 jobs by the end of the month.Hunting, which manufactures a wide range of tools and solutions used in oil and gas exploration, said it would close three distribution centres in North America and two manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma City and Texas."Our business is
PGS Laying Off 40% Office Workers. Offshore Crews Might Be Cut, Too
been stacked, the spokesperson added: "We have in Q2 cold stacked PGS Apollo and Sanco Swift. We plan to warm-stack one additional vessel during Q3."Tough times for seismic playersOffshore seismic contractors, especially the owners of survey vessels, are the ones who will suffer the most from low oil prices and COVID-19 when it comes to the oil and gas supply chain, Rystad Energy said in its recent analysis.The Norwegian energy intelligence recently said that offshore seismic revenues were estimated to fall in 2020 by 51% in a $30 Brent scenario and by 77% if the Brent falls to $20, compared
Esvagt CEO: No Job Cuts and Furloughs
, the Danish provider of emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV) and service operation vessels (SOV) to the offshore energy industry, mostly in the North Sea, earlier this month said it would cut executive and staff pay, and delay investments.The pay cuts and investment delays are a response to the low oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have impacted, per ESVAGT, the ERRV spot market, a large part of the company's business. Esvagt, which owns a fleet of more than 40 offshore vessels, said on May 12 that the Board of Directors and upper management had agreed to a 15 percent pay reduction
New Round of Layoffs at Maersk Drilling
guidance for 2020, citing oil and gas companies' budget cuts and delays and cancellations in offshore drilling tenders.As previously reported, Maersk Drilling in April said it would lay off around 250-300 people in its North Sea crew pool, and mothball several drilling rigs due to the effects of low oil price on offshore drilling activities.The Danish offshore driller on Thursday announced a new round of cuts, this time onshore."...the need for onshore support is expected to be adversely impacted by the reduced offshore activity. Therefore, Maersk Drilling today announces that it intends to
EnQuest to Axe 530 Jobs in UK
, an EnQuest spokesperson told Offshore Engineer Wednesday that the company had begun a six-week collective consultation with UK employees "as it takes decisive action to manage the business in the current challenging economic environment."The spokesperson reminded that given the prevailing low oil price and global demand that EnQuest had recently reviewed each of its assets and related spending plans. EnQuest expects economic production at its Alma/Galia offshore fields will cease in the second half of 2020, having been brought online in 2015 via the EnQuest Producer FPSO. The plan is
UK: Around 30,000 Offshore Oil & Gas Jobs at Risk
the OGUK survey, as part of their response to the crisis more than three-quarters of supply chain companies plan to increase their non-oil and gas work this year.OGUK Chief Executive Deirdre Michie said: “Like so many industries, our members have been profoundly impacted by COVID-19. With historic low oil and gas prices coming so soon after one of the most severe downturns our sector has experienced, these findings confirm an especially bleak outlook for the UK’s oil and gas industry. If the UK is to maintain its supply of domestic energy, protect jobs and build the critical infrastructure
OMV Might Cut Jobs Due to COVID-19, Low Oil Prices
to extend a 4 billion euro ($4.35 billion) cost-cutting program, its chief executive said, adding it may cut jobs due to the coronavirus crisis and a slump in energy prices.Major oil producers with operations around the world have cut their 2020 capital spending by about 25%, or nearly $55 billion, following the drop in crude prices."I expect... further cost savings programs this year," OMV chief executive Rainer Seele told German daily Handelsblatt in an interview published on Wednesday.OMV has already said it would cut spending by about 20% this year and has reached a deal to pay for its
Polarcus to Cut Jobs, Salaries
Marine seismic company Polarcus is set to reduce workforce and employees' salaries, and stack survey vessels, as a response to the uncertainty marine seismic industry is facing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and the current low oil prices.Polarcus on Tuesday evening announced cost-cutting measures, which the company expects to save it $15 million in 2020.These include reducing personnel costs onshore and offshore by approximately USD 6.5 million through a combination of redundancies and a reduction in base salary for Polarcus employees for six months effective 1 April 2020. "This
More than a Million of Oilfield Services Jobs at Stake
down their workforce by at least 21%. Some 13 percentage points are attributed to oil-price-driven cuts and the remaining 8% reductions will be layoffs caused by measures taken by contractors who are forced to slow down project developments fearing the spread of Covid-19 on their worksites.“Low oil prices are likely to persist in 2021 and could lead to further workforce reductions. But as we move into the second half of 2021, with better market fundamentals and a fading Covid-19, recruitment is likely to pick up in the shale sector and from 2022 will also kick-off in the offshore sector,&rdquo
Shell Appoints Sawan as Upstream Boss
joined Shell in 1997.Brown, 56, will remain a member of Shell's executive committee until his departure on Sept. 30, Shell said in a statement."I am grateful to Andy for his strong leadership of the Upstream business, particularly having improved business performance during the recent years of low oil prices," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement.Shell, the second largest publicly-traded oil company behind Exxon Mobil, produced nearly 3.6 million barrels per day of oil and gas equivalent in the third quarter of 2018.Shell transformed its upstream operations following
M² Subsea Appoints US GM, SVP Commercial
regions. Prior to this, he was commercial manager for Halliburton’s Pipeline and Precommissioning business in Aberdeen. Based in Houston and Aberdeen, M² Subsea is the largest independent provider of ROV services, focused on reducing costs and risks to meet the demands of the low oil price environment
A.P. Moller-Maersk Elects New Chairman to Steer Digital Transformation
A.P. Moller-Maersk's new chairman committed to automating its systems as the oil and shipping group steps up its drive to become more efficient and save costs at a time of low oil prices and declining freight rates. The more than 100-year-old conglomerate's digital push will mean that in theory, it should be as easy to book a container as booking an airline ticket, Chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe told Reuters shortly after he was elected. "We transport goods in the physical world and that won't change as we won't start beaming things around the world," the former co-CEO of German software
IBIA: Bunker Market Opportunities in Africa
resulting in the anchorage at Pointe Noire, Congo being dominated by one supplier, while a customs crackdown in Angola has halted sales of competitively priced marine gas oil. The West African market is also suffering from a decline in the offshore and seismic vessel market as a result of the low oil price. Piracy, although in decline is still a serious consideration in the region, and fuel can be expensive, delivery is not always timely and the delivery infrastructure is often underdeveloped. However, one positive aspect was that the offshore European operators who had been active before
Energy Doldrums Force Boskalis to Cut Fleet, Staff
age of 30 years. Boskalis, in common with most dredgers around the world, flourished during an earnings bonanza around Egypt's Suez Canal enlargement project that ended last year. No projects of comparable scale have since been forthcoming. Offshore engineers have been hit hard by low oil and commodity prices, which have forced energy companies to cut exploration budgets and extract less of the hard-to-reach deposits in which they specialise. Shares in the company rose slightly after news of the planned cuts and were trading 2.5 percent higher at 1420 GMT, compared to an
Petrobras Sees Layoff Plan Saving up to $9.2 Bln
SA said on Friday it will launch a voluntary layoff program to cut an estimated 12,000 jobs in a bid to save up to 33 billion reais ($9.20 billion) by 2020. The program will cost 4.4 billion reais and is open to all employees, according to a statement from Petrobras, which has been hard hit by low oil prices, refinery project problems and a massive price-fixing, bribery and political kickback scandal. The company said the planned redundancies would help adjust the size of its workforce to a smaller investment plan and boost productivity. Investors have long criticized Petrobras
Oil Heads for Third Straight Weekly Loss
informal contacts with OPEC and hinted in the past it might be ready to cut oil production to prop up prices. The seemingly unstoppable decline in oil is raising concerns about investment in future supplies, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Friday in Singapore. "The current low oil price makes me worried because it means lower investments in new oil projects," he said. "This year, oil investments declined more than 20 percent and more importantly we expect it will decline next year as well," Birol said. "We have never seen in the last 30 years oil investments
