Oil-field service giant Schlumberger grew its global head count in 2019 despite finishing the year with a $10.1 billion loss and laying off 1,400 workers in the United States.
In a Wednesday morning filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Schlumberger reported that the company had 105,000 employees at the end of 2019, 5 percent more than the 100,000 employees it had a year earlier.
The new head count was released less than a week after the company said it lost $10.1 billion in 2019, mostly from writing down the value of two past acquisitions. Still, the company laid off 1,400 employees in North America as part of cost-cutting measures to restore profitability to its US shale operations, which took a hit amid $50 per barrel crude oil prices that made horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing uneconomic for most producers.
Despite the setbacks on US shale, Schlumberger grew its international and offshore businesses, which accounted for two-thirds of the company’s $32.9 billion of revenue in 2019.
Revenue from the company’s international business grew by 7 percent in 2019 while revenue from North America shrank by 10 percent.
Schlumberger also appears to have grown its geographic footprint in 2019.
The company said it receives revenue from operations in 120 nations. It previously said it had employees in 85 countries.
Employee demographics were not immediately available but in a March 2019 investors presentation, the company reported that millennials make up 55 percent of the company’s global workforce.
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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