Houston-based Halliburton confirms it laid off another 4,000 workers in the final three months of 2015 bringing the total to nearly 22,000 employees let go since 2014. The reduction amounts to a 25 percent cut in the company’s global workforce and company officials said this week there could be more cuts coming.
“2016 is shaping up to be one tough slog through the mud and the industry is going to have ti take it a quarter at a time,” said Dave Lesar, chief executive officer of Halliburton.
The company reported losing $28 million in the three month period ending Dec. 31. It’s fourth quarter loss of 3 cents a share was down from the $901 million profit or $1.06 a share compared to a year ago. Revenue slipped 28 percent but company executives say the drop was still far from the 35 percent drop in the global rig count and worldwide spending on drilling and completions.
“The reality is—due to the macro-uncertainties, many of our customers are managing their businesses in real-time, rig by rig,” said Lesar. “Accordingly, we are going to take this market week-by-week and in some cases, crew by crew. This is unlikely to change until our customers have confidence in a sustainable and economic oil price.”
Halliburton, once headquartered in Duncan still has extensive operations in Texas even though it moved its headquarters years ago to Houston. The company has also slashed costs by consolidating offices in more than 20 sites around the world. It’s shut down operations in two countries.
As for capital expenditures, Halliburton plans to reduce the current spending budget of $2.2 billion to $1.6 billion. Despite the losses, Halliburton leaders say they still intend to close their acquisition of rival services provider Baker Hughes. Lesar said the company recently provided the U.S. Justice Department with proposals for more divestitures in a move to satisfy concerns about competition. The DOJ has said in the past that Halliburton’s plans to spin off more than $5 billion in assets didn’t go far enough in easing worries about the two combined companies having too much control over some of the energy markets.
