Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy reportedly started making more layoffs on Tuesday as many reports indicate the firm is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy over its $4 billion in debt.
Social media is filled with comments of SandRidge workers who say many employees were let go including one account that 12 managers were among those laid off.
Many of the comments were made on “TheLayoff.com”, a website that is devoted to such events.
SandRidge has not responded to a request made by OK Energy Today for a comment or confirmation. But in recent weeks, speculation has mounted that the company is preparing to head to federal bankruptcy court. National business wires offered some of the speculation as SandRidge stock fell and debt mounted. It recently hired financial specialists to assist with the preparation.
Last month, SandRidge cut loose more than 260 workers at its Lariat Services subsidiary in northern Oklahoma. The same subsidiary laid off workers and shut down its offices last year in Midland-Odessa, Texas.
The layoffs came after SandRidge was also delisted from the New York Stock Exhcnage Jan. 8 because of “abnormally low” trading price levels and failure to meet the exchange’s minimum $1 bid requirement.
Said SandRidge at the time: “While the delisting of our stock from the NYSE is certainly not an outcome we desired, it’s important to note that this action does not affect our day-to-day operations. SandRidge continues to have ample liquidity, and we remain focused on navigating the current commodity downturn and extending our capabilities, including developing our recent acquird Niobrara assets.”
SandRidge is known for its focus on the Mississippian play in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. It is considered the largest producer in Kansas as well as being the largest producer in the water-rich Mississippi Lime formation in northwestern Oklahoma. But it also has run into problems over the dozens of wastewater injection wells necessary in northern Oklahoma as a result of the exploration in the Mississippian. It tried to fight the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in December of a state request to reduce operations of some injection wells and shutdown of others believed linked to the earthquakes in the region. Last month, the state finally announced SandRidge had reached agreement to comply with the request, an agreement came as the Corporation Commission prepared to take the company to court. SandRidge accounted for nearly a third of all the produced saltwater disposed into the Arbuckle zones in 2014.
SandRidge was founded in 2006 by Tom Ward who left the company in 2013. Under his leadership. the company used hedges on its oil and natural gas production nearly 3 to 4 years into the future but those hedges will reportedly be gone this year.
