Despite Optimism, Oil Firms Keep Cutting Jobs

[question everything]

Source: WSJ

Energy companies continued to cut thousands of jobs during the second quarter, even though many chief executives are now voicing optimism that the oil market crash is ending and a rebound in drilling is afoot.

Although the heads of Halliburton Co. , Schlumberger Ltd. and other major firms forecast higher crude prices and a return to U.S. shale fields when discussing earnings this week, those companies and others disclosed another 15,000 industry layoffs.

Among the recent job cuts were 8,000 employees from Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil-field service company, and 5,000 from its rival Halliburton. FMC Technologies, which makes offshore oil equipment, cut 1,000 workers in the spring and summer. ConocoPhillips, one of the biggest U.S. oil producers, confirmed another 1,000 employees will be let go by the end of September.

Further bloodletting in the oil patch has brought the number of global energy jobs lost during this downturn to more than 385,000 people, with the bulk of the latest cuts coming in the U.S. and Canada, according to data from Houston-based consultancy Graves & Co.


Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/despite-optimism-oil-firms-keep-cutting-jobs-1469209897

[Andy823]

1. There is still a glut of oil

And they know it. They have to sound optimistic in order to try and justify the prices they are charging at the pump. They "hope" things will get better, but that is not what the facts show. A lot of those on Wall Street are saying oil will drop again this fall, some say it may drop back into the $20.00 a barrel range by the end of the year. No matter how low it may drop, one thing we can be sure of is that next summer they will manipulate the price of oil up, along with the prices at the pump. It's just what they do.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. They always use this as a means to get rid of people. Don't tell me they aren't making money.

I don't buy it at all.

[groundloop]

5. Yep, cutting thousands of jobs but CEOs get hefty raises and bonuses

[TexasBushwhacker]

3. I was wondering why things were so dry hear in Houston

Lay offs in O&G effect employment in other industries. I've been out of work for 6 months. It's like 2010 all over again.

[question everything]

4. I am sorry about it

I think this means that you cannot just wait for thing to improve but to start looking at other industries.

Good luck!

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. Oh, I avoid the industry

I'm a bookkeeper with 13 years experience. I have a degree but not in accounting. The thing is that accounting personnel laid off from the oil industry are taking any job they can find, which means people with accounting degrees are taking bookkeeping jobs paying $40K (or less) just to stay alive. I'm almost 60 and they're probably younger than me as well. There aren't even temp jobs to tide me over.

[asiliveandbreathe]

7. So, is this an effort to increase the jobs # before the election??

Screw the workers...that's right -- it's Prez Obamas fault - it couldn't possibly be shareholder dividends...

Maybe the man-child could explain to the American people the types of jobs he is going to create..or maybe the man-child could explain to the American something, ANYTHING that isn't hateful - so sad ....

[Jopin Klobe]

8. If any fool believes this, they'd better remember history ...

Enron Chairman Urged Employees to Buy Stock

"Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay exhorted employees in September to buy more Enron shares and reassured them that the company's upcoming quarterly financial report was "looking great" only weeks before the energy trader disclosed the worst results in its history and a billion-dollar write-down that destroyed its public credibility." ...
LINK: http://latimes.com/2002/jan/19/news/mn-23640

... oldest con game in History ...

[question everything]

9. Regardless of the company, employees should not invest in their comapnies

at least, not a large amount that they cannot afford to lose.