MORE than 100 north-east jobs are at risk at international oil services company Baker Hughes Inteq.
A spokesman in Houston said yesterday the company employed 417 people in the Aberdeen area, at Portlethen and Stoneywood, and was looking at making about 25% of its workforce redundant, both onshore and offshore.
A consultation team is being assembled and the process is expected to last three weeks. He said the reason for the payoffs was an anticipated fall in spending by its customers because of reduced demand for oil and gas.
He said Baker Hughes Inteq would look at redeployment where possible but the company was facing problems not just in the North Sea but worldwide. The firm provides advanced drilling technologies and services that promise efficiency and precise well placement.
It emerged last week that the world’s largest oilfield services provider – Schlumberger – might cut employee numbers in the north-east.
A British spokeswoman for the company said it was looking at how best to manage its resources in the UK and worldwide in the challenging economic climate.
She added that it was too early to say if jobs would go in the Aberdeen area, where it employs more than 2,000 people.
Schlumberger has more than 84,000 workers in about 80 countries, with about 4,000 of them in the UK.
On Wednesday, Ernst and Young was appointed administrator for oil and gas company Oilexco North Sea. The news leaves a question mark over the future of 100 staff in Aberdeen and offshore.
Colin Dempster, one of the joint administrators, has already been approached by parties interested in buying the company’s business and assets. BG Group, Talisman Energy, Petro-Canada and Maersk Oil have all been linked with possible bids.