(BOE Report)– U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips is shedding staff at its Canadian operations, based on three sources and an organization memo reviewed by Reuters, because it strikes to chop as much as 1 / 4 of its international workforce by subsequent yr. The memo didn’t specify what number of layoffs would happen however stated they’d start on the firm’s Canadian operations within the first week of November. Workers in Calgary might be notified just about on November 5 and people within the firm’s Surmont oil sands operation in northern Alberta and its Montney shale play in British Columbia might be informed in particular person the next day, the memo stated.
“We won’t be sharing area-specific workforce numbers for present or impacted staff and contractors,” ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss stated in an electronic mail.
FALL IN OIL PRICES FORCES STAFF AND SPENDING CUTS
ConocoPhillips employed 950 folks in Canada as of the top of 2024, based on the corporate’s web site, and its 2024 Canadian manufacturing was 164,000 barrels of oil equal per day (boe/d).
A fall in oil costs has put ConocoPhillips and its U.S. rivals underneath stress this yr, forcing them to chop employees, curb capital spending and cut back drilling. U.S. oil main Chevron introduced it could lay off as much as 20% of its employees in February, and different vitality firms, together with SLB and BP, are additionally slicing their workforces. In Canada, the foremost home oil sands gamers have remained comparatively sheltered from the downturn, as a result of years of cost-cutting and the insulating results of a decrease Canadian greenback, which makes Canadian oil exports extra engaging to international consumers. However the U.S. business’s ache has unfold to Canada, with U.S.-owned firms starting to chop their Canadian divisions as they consolidate operations and search to turn into extra environment friendly. In September, Canada’s Imperial Oil, which is majority-owned by ExxonMobil and has reported sturdy income this yr, stated it could reduce its workforce by about 20% by the top of 2027, a part of a serious restructuring that may finally shutter most of its presence within the oil-and-gas metropolis of Calgary.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Georgina McCartney and Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Enhancing by Franklin Paul and Edmund Klamann)
