More layoffs at Chevron

Chevron Corp is the latest major oil and gas producer to take steps to trim its workforce as the company confirmed this week it has plans to lay off an estimated 10 to 15% of its employees.

The oil producer previously disclosed a 30% reduction in its 2020 spending and some voluntary job cuts amid this year’s sharp drop in oil prices and lower demand for oil and gas due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to Reuters.

Chevron has been widely seen as the standard bearer of financial discipline in the oil industry and was among the first to make significant budget cuts as oil demand plummeted. Last year, it abandoned a takeover bid for Anadarko Petroleum Corp rather than get into a bidding war with Occidental Petroleum Corp . Chevron pocketed a $1 billion break fee while Occidental has faced investor wrath for its ill-timed deal.

Chevron, which has 45,000 employees, expects to remove about 10% to 15% of its global staff to “match projected activity levels,” spokeswoman Veronica Flores-Paniagua confirmed.

U.S. crude oil prices have nearly halved this year to about $33 a barrel as the COVID-19 pandemic slashed travel and led to stay-at-home orders that have cut oil demand by as much as 2 million barrels per day. Chevron this month said it would reduce planned U.S. shale output by about 125,000 bpd.

The about 4,500 to 6,750 job cuts envisioned are to “address current market conditions,” with varying impact on each business unit and region, said Flores-Paniagua. Most reductions will take place this year. “This is a difficult decision and we do not take it lightly,” she said.

At its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, No. 1 U.S. oil producer Exxon Mobil Corp said it had not yet taken steps to reduce its workforce. “Today, we have no layoff plans,” Chief Executive Darren Woods said. Exxon also cut its planned spending 30% for the year.

Both companies have outlined deep cuts in investments in the Permian shale basin, the top U.S. oilfield where growth in recent years made America the world’s top oil producer and a net exporter for the first time in decades.

Source: Reuters