El Reno is again feeling the impact of the oil slump as Houston-based NexTier Completion Solutions Inc. started a layoff of workers at its operations in the city. The layoffs started last week.
NexTier filed a notice with the Oklahoma Office of Workforce Development of its intentions to start the layoff of at least 85 workers who are employed at the company facility located at 201 Jensen Road E in El Reno, a city already bruised by the layoff of hundreds of Halliburton workers earlier in the year.
The impetus for the layoffs? The plunging business circumstances caused by the worldwide COVID 19 pandemic and the impact on the oil and gas industry, an impact mostly the result of reduced demand for fuel to fly by air and drive by car.
A year ago, Oklahoma had more than 100 oil and gas rigs in operation. This past week, the number had plunged to 26.
“The precipitous worldwide decline in oil price when combined with an opportunistic supply shock initiated by foreign oil-producing countries has resulted in unprecedented adverse market conditions for American companies operating in the energy industry,” the notice stated.
Within the past 90 days, starting on January 15, 2020, NexTier implemented other, separate layoffs resulting in employment losses. The April 6 notice includes the numbers from the previous layoffs, which did not, on their own, require notice to be given.
Just two weeks ago, the company updated its capex plans to be between $100- and $120 million, a reduction of more than 50% at the midpoint versus its previous outlook of $210 million.
NexTier is a U.S. land oilfield service company, with a diverse set of well completion and production services across the most active and demanding basins.
Source: Houston Chronicle