Hundreds Of Jobs Lost As Canadian Energy Giant Slashes Spending

Canadian energy giant Husky Energy Inc. (OTCMKTS: HUSKF) has cut staff in a round of layoffs, the company announced on Tuesday.

The layoffs, thought to have affected over a hundred workers, have mostly affected workers in Calgary, where workers filed out of company headquarters to a row of cabs waiting to cart off workers who had been dismissed.

The layoffs are in line, Husky said, with its annual capital spending goals, which Husky lowered by 10% this year to $3.15 billion.

“Today we did have to say goodbye to some of our colleagues. Husky has been taking steps to better align the organization and workforce with our capital plan and strategy,” Husky Spokesperson Kim Guttormson said in an emailed statement.

Husky declined to comment on the number of those laid off.

The timing of the layoffs coincides with federal elections earlier this week, where results were not the most favorable outcome for the oil and gas industry that fears it will suffer under Trudeau’s rule now that he must enlist the help of anti-oil parties.  

Husky has already felt the pinch from the oil production curtailments that it was required to implement when the price of WCS was significantly lower than that of WTI due to constrained takeaway capacity as Canada struggled to approve and build new oil pipelines—a challenge that Canada still faces today.

Husky’s share price was trading up 3.02% by Tuesday afternoon, at $7.26 per share, with just two days to go until Husky’s Q3 report is released on Thursday.

Husky Energy’s largest shareholder (69%), which is controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, has lost an estimated $20 billion from its Husky investment since 2008, and Husky’s cashflows were negative for Q2 2019.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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