US Oilfield Services Co. Says Cutting 3,000 Jobs

As part of its strategy to further cut costs and reduce debt, Texas-based oilfield services company Weatherford International said on Thursday that it had launched another head count reduction plan totaling 3,000 employees. Weatherford’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Christoph Bausch said at the company’s earnings call on Thursday that "At the time of this call, we have already reduced 2,000 employees out of the 3,000 mentioned before," Oil Price reported. Weatherford is one of the world's largest multinational oil and natural gas service companies. In its drive to cut more costs, Weatherford will also pull back its pumping operations in the US and close additional uneconomical field locations, Bausch said, adding that all those actions are expected to generate additional annualized cost savings of about $300 million. Weatherford reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of $549 million, compared to a loss of $1.78 billion for the third quarter and a $1.21-billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2015. Net debt was reduced by $507 million during the fourth quarter to $6.5 billion at end-December 2016.