Wednesday, January 14, 2015

UK-BASED TULLOW OIL PLANS JOB CUTS AS OIL HITS SIX YEAR LOWS



UK-BASED TULLOW OIL PLANS JOB CUTS AS OIL HITS SIX YEAR LOWS

January 13, 2015 

UK-based independent Tullow Oil is reportedly planning to cut an unspecified number of jobs by the end of the first quarter amid sinking crude prices.

The company is currently undertaking a review of staffing levels and could present its headcount reduction plan as early as next month.

“There will be a reduction in head count. Unquestionably, there will be a smaller Tullow at the end of this major streamlining process,” an unnamed source told the Telegraph.
Tullow has not commented on the reports.

Several companies including Houston-based Halliburton and Royal Dutch Shell have announced layoffs in an effort to combat anemic oil prices and rising operational expenses.
UK based companies are asking chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne to cut drilling taxes to help offset low operating cash flow and an earnings squeeze.

Operators in the UK North Sea were already contending with rising operations costs, slumping output and declining reserves before oil prices began to plummet last year.
Wood Mackenzie said if prices remain under $60 per barrel upstreams could cut investment in the North Sea down to $10 billion this year from $19 billion in 2014.

A survey conducted by Rigzone showed that over two third of oil and gas workers in Scotland and the UK North Sea are worried about the impact low oil prices will have on offshore projects within the next five years.