Heightened by COVID-19, Halliburton Is Forced to Cut More Than a Thousand Jobs, and Drama May Linger for Its Oil Services in Brazil

The Most Affected Halliburton Workers Were from the US, but the Lack of Demand and Backlog in Brazil Could Cause the Same Effect Soon

Halliburton is laying off about 1,000 employees at its corporate headquarters in Houston. The layoffs were effective immediately, confirmed a Halliburton spokesperson. In Brazil, it has contracts for oil services in the Southeast and Northeast.

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In a statement, the oilfield services giant attributed the layoffs to the “dramatic and unpredictable business downturn caused by the coronavirus and the unprecedented drop in commodity prices”.

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The statement also emphasized that “the reductions are in addition to layoffs in the company’s global operations. These actions are difficult, but necessary, as we adjust our business to the reduced activity of our customers”.

This is the latest in a series of layoff announcements from Halliburton and other companies in the energy sector in recent months.

In March, the company announced it was hiring 3,500 employees at its Houston headquarters for 60 days to cut costs. Later, it laid off more than 600 employees in Texas and Oklahoma, including 350 in Duncan and 130 in Colorado.

Last week, Halliburton announced hundreds of other job cuts in Oklahoma and two facility closures in Texas. However, many of the affected employees in Texas were given the opportunity to work remotely or relocate. At one of the Texas facilities, Halliburton had already laid off 384 employees.

Halliburton’s global employment had already decreased by about 5,000 people from the beginning of 2019 to the end, starting 2020 with around 55,000 employees, according to the company’s latest annual financial report. Halliburton generated US $22.41 billion in revenue in 2019. And in its first quarter report released on April 20, Halliburton stated it had about 50,000 employees.

Oilfield service companies were already among the hardest-hit sectors in the energy industry, even before the demand drop due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in production by OPEC and other countries pushed oil prices to a negative level for the first time last month.