Weatherford Cutting 6,000 More Jobs as Oil Downturn Worsens

Weatherford International Plc plans to lay off an additional 6,000 workers, about 15 percent of its workforce, over the first half of this year to cope with the worst crude market downturn in 30 years.

The latest round of cuts brings to 20,000 the number of people who have been or will be let go by the world’s fourth-largest oilfield services supplier as oil prices tumbled by more than two thirds.

"We have geared the company, and will increasingly do so, for a prolonged period of very low activity," Chief Executive Officer Bernard Duroc-Danner said Wednesday in a statement announcing a $1.2 billion loss in the fourth quarter. "We are ready for as protracted a downcycle as markets will dictate."

The oil industry has slashed more than 250,000 jobs and trimmed more than than $100 billion in spending in the last year, with more cuts expected this year. The service providers were the first to feel the pain and have so far contributed the largest chunk of job cuts.

Source: Bloomberg