Like dominoes falling on a table, oil and gas industry jobs are tumbling—victims of the oil glut caused by Russia and Saudi Arabia and the government’s clampdown due to the coronavirus.
Oilfield pipe manufacturer Tenaris announced it has started laying off 900 workers at plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas and Arkansas because the combination of the oil glut and the coronavirus has crushed any demand for new pipeline projects.
“These are extraordinary times for our sector that require us to implement difficult, short-term measures to temporarily lean our operations to maintain a long-term solid position to serve our customers,” Tenaris U.S. President Luca Zanotti said in a statement.
The company plans to reduce the number of workers at its threading plant in the Houston suburb of Baytown and its welded pipe plant in Hickman, Arkansas starting April 17.
A notice filed with the Texas Workforce Commission shows that the company will shed 223 jobs at the Baytown plant.
Houston-based Apache Corp. is laying off 85 employees in Midland in response to the oil crash.
The Houston oil and gas producer told state workforce officials on that its layoffs began Wednesday and will continue through May 18. The affected employees work at Apache’s facility at 303 Veterans Airpark Lane.
The move comes after Apache cut $650 million, or about a third, from its capital budget used to fund oil exploration and production. The company also cut its quarterly dividend by 90 percent to 2.5 cents per share, down from 25 cents.
Source: Houston Chronicle
