Houston oilfield service giant Halliburton is laying off dozens of employees in California amid an ongoing slump in drilling and completion activity in the United States and Canada.
The company plans to lay off 70 employees in the Bakersfield area, California’s principal area of onshore crude oil production.
“We’re making adjustments to our workforce in Bakersfield due to local market conditions,” Halliburton spokesman William Fitzgerald said in a statement. “We value every employee, but unfortunately we are faced with the difficult reality that reductions are necessary as we work to align our operations to reduced customer activity.”
Ranked as the second largest oilfield service company in world, Halliburton remains profitable but has cut its workforce in response to $50 per barrel crude oil prices that have resulted in declining demand for the company’s technology and services.
The California layoffs are the fourth round of layoffs for the Houston oilfield service company. Halliburton confirmed this week that the company is cutting 800 jobs in Oklahoma.
Halliburton cut another 650 jobs in four western states in October and is reduced 8 percent of its North American workforce during the second quarter.
Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Houston, Halliburton has more than 60,000 employees in 40 nations.
The company made a $1.66 billion profit on $24 billion of revenue during 2018.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.
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