ConocoPhillips To Slash Another 1,000 Jobs

ConocoPhillips will cut another 1,000 energy jobs this year, mostly in Texas and in Canada, as it continues to pursue cost cuts amid the downturn, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips decided last Thursday that it would lay off hundreds of employees in Texas, where the bulk of its shale operations are based, and another 300 workers in Calgary, Alberta, sources told the WSJ.

“Over the past couple years, we’ve significantly reduced our capital activities and finished some major projects, which left us with more organizational capacity than we need,” company spokesman Daren Beaudo said.

ConocoPhillips has already axed 3,400 jobs worldwide, that is some 18 percent of workforce, since September 2014.

The latest job cut accounts for some 6 percent of the company’s employee numbers. The up-to-300 lay-offs at ConocoPhillips Canada will take place mostly at the Calgary head office in September, spokesman Rob Evans said.

Lower prices than in other parts of the world, as well as higher tax pressure in Canada, are challenging ConocoPhillips’s competitive power in parts of its Canadian business, Evans noted. The company is still working out the details on which parts of its Canadian business will be affected by the job cuts, the spokesman said.

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In April this year, ConocoPhillips cut its 2016 capital expenditures guidance to US$5.7 billion from US$6.4 billion. The company attributed the lowered capex figures to reduced deepwater exploration business, deferrals and lower costs across its portfolio.

Before that, in February this year, ConocoPhillips had already lowered the 2016 capex guidance from US$7.7 billion to US$6.4 billion.

“While we don’t know how far commodity prices will fall, or the duration of the downturn, we believe it’s prudent to plan for lower prices for a longer period of time,” chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said back in February.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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