Oil and gas producers and oilfield services providers are slashing workforce numbers as the mergers wave in the sector gives way to reorganization and restructuring.
Over the past few months, the U.S. and European supermajors, as well as large independent producers, smaller players, and the world’s top services providers, have announced – either publicly or via internal memos – that they begin processes to eliminate roles, office-based jobs, and contractor numbers.
Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP, Shell, Equinor, Harbour Energy, APA Corp, OMV, Exxon’s Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil, Halliburton, and SLB have all began layoffs in certain geographies and markets, according to a snapshot of the job cuts in the oil and gas sector compiled by Reuters.
Behind the thousands of layoffs announced in the industry lie two major driving forces—lower international crude oil prices compared to last year, and the many mergers and acquisitions that the companies completed in the past two years. Efforts to cut more costs amid lower prices and strategy readjustments – as is the case with BP’s “fundamental reset” to focus on the core oil and gas business – are also driving companies to reduce workforce numbers.
ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP have announced thousands of job cuts, with some planning to reduce their workforce by as much as 25% by the end of 2027.
BP has already reduced contractor numbers by 3,200, and expects a further 1,200 contractors to exit by the end of 2025, BP’s chief financial officer Kate Thomson said on the Q2 earnings call in August. Moreover, BP expects its ongoing organizational transformation to see 6,200 roles impacted by the end of 2025, out of an office-based workforce of 40,000 employees.
Chevron, which bought Hess Corporation for $53 billion, has said it would reduce its workforce by 20% by the end of 2026 as part of wide cost cuts. This includes 800 jobs in the Permian.
ConocoPhillips, which acquired Marathon Oil Corporation last year, plans to slash workforce numbers by up to 25% across functions and geographies to simplify the organization and cut costs.
SLB is said to be reducing job numbers in wider reorganization, while Halliburton is also reportedly cutting roles in recent weeks, after laying off nearly 300 employees in Argentina earlier this year, Reuters notes.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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