Energy service giant Weatherford International is axeing 9% of its global workforce as the job cull across the oil and gas industry in response to low crude prices continues.
The latest redundancies mean about 5,000 people among Weatherford’s 56,000-stong head-count will soon be out of work.
But the group’s largely Aberdeen-based eastern hemisphere operations, serving markets such as the North Sea, Middle East, East Asia, Australia and west Africa, will be spared the worst.
Switzerland-headquartered Weatherford, which has a large presence in Europe’s energy capital, said more than 85% of its job cuts would be in its western hemisphere business covering the Americas – leaving fewer than 750 posts affected elsewhere.
Last year, the company axed 7,000 jobs around the world after poor weather in the North Sea and disruption to its Middle East and Latin America operations hit profits.
Like many of its international rivals with operations in Aberdeen, Weatherford has for years been strangely guarded about how many people it actually employs in the Granite City.
The company’s US-based media team were no more helpful yesterday, with a spokeswoman also unable to comment on any potential redundancies on this side of the Atlantic.
She added: “Due to quickly changing market conditions, we are aligning our cost structure to match our view of the new market environment.
“As market conditions evolve over the next few quarters, we will continue to adjust our cost base.”
Weatherford has in the past 10 years invested around £25million in the phased development of a 20-acre site in Altens, Aberdeen, which is now home to the headquarters of its UK North Sea business.
The original plan involved relocating a large part of the group’s then 1,000-strong north-east workforce from about 20 different Granite City locations to the new site, with European and west African headquarters remaining at Dyce.
Weatherford is one of the world’s largest multinational oilfield service companies. Its product and service portfolio spans the lifecycle of the well, and includes drilling and formation evaluation, well construction, completion and production.
The company provides technology and services through operations in more than 100 countries.
Results just posted by the group for 2014 show pre-tax losses of £167million, compared with a £11million trading deficit the year before.
Net revenue last year totalled £9.75billion, against £9.98billion in 2013.
Weatherford said it expects its cost actions, a reduction in capital expenditure by £360million to £588million and a positive contribution from working capital balances, to offset any loss of earnings. during 2015.
Its job-cutting comes amid a major cull by the oil and gas industry globally, with all the major operators and service firms announcing redundancies.
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