Whether some of the job cuts happened in Oklahoma, Schlumberger NV isn’t specifying but the Houston, Texas based firm confirms it laid off nearly 2,500 workers in the first quarter of 2016.
The company’s profit dropped 49 percent while revenues fell 36 percent from $10.25 billion down to $6.52 billion. First-quarter net income fell to $501 million or 40 cents per share from $975 million or 76 percent per share a year ago.
Schlumberger said it started the year with a workforce totaling 95,000 but ended the quarter on March 31 with 93,000 employees. The company had 126,000 employees in the middle of 2014.
The company explained it cut nearly 8,000 workers in the first quarter but also converted nearly 5,500 contractors to company employees.
Schlumberger is considered to be the world’s largest oilfield-services provider. But Chairman and CEO Paal Kibsgaar says the decline in energy prices “reached unprecedented levels as the industry displayed clear signs of operating in a full-scale cash crisis.”
