STEP Energy Services, NCS Multistage cut jobs as oil collapses

STEP Energy Services

07/04/2020 15:52

By Liz Hampton
    April 7 (Reuters) - More oilfield service companies
dismissed workers this week after oil prices collapsed to near
two-decade lows amid a price war among top producers and falling
demand from the spread of the novel coronavirus.
    Houston, Texas-based NCS Multistage Holdings  NCSM.O  is
cutting about 80 employees, or 20% of its workforce, according
to a filing. The company provides services for fracking shale
oil wells. 
    Canadian firm STEP Energy Services  STEP.TO  also is
shedding workers in Texas and Oklahoma oilfields due to the
"drastic downturn in oil," the company said in a workforce
filing. 
    The layoffs will impact 151 people at two Texas facilities
and a handful of people in Oklahoma, it said.  
    Firms that provide oilfield services and equipment had
barely recovered from the 2014-2016 downturn before oil last
month crashed to about $20 a barrel. Many were already operating
on thin margins, and now face customers pushing for price cuts.
    French drilling pipe manufacturer Vallourec  VLLP.PA  this
week said it was cutting 900 jobs, or one third of its North
American workforce, after activity collapsed in the oil and gas
industry. 
    The decision was "necessary in a quickly deteriorating
environment," Chairman Edouard Guinotte said in a statement on
Monday. 
    Halliburton, the largest hydraulic fracturing operator in
the United States, on Monday said it was "significantly
reducing" its workforce, and its executives agreed to take a pay
cut.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2BU0OF

 (Reporting by Liz Hampton
Editing by Paul Simao)
 ((Liz.Hampton@thomsonreuters.com; +1 713 210 8522; Reuters
Messaging: Reuters Messaging: liz.hampton.reuters@reuters.net))