Work force reduced next up asset sales?
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JJ sc--wed up with the COP PSX split, lined his pockets while every one else suffered, now their putting the band back together!
The problem with today's oil business is it is virtually impossible for a geologist, engineer or landman to break away and start their own oil company. That was the standard way to achieve business ownership since the beginning of the industry, With the business shifting almost entirely to horizontal multi stage drilling one needs a large team and immediate large finance which is almost impossible to achieve when exiting a major company. Additionally, working for a large company compartmentalizes the workers and they don't have the information knowledge or experience it takes to run an oil company, which traps them as an employee forever.
OP has no clue.
Everyone is getting leaner.
From the beginning of time, technology has made it easier to do things without people.
First the wheel and fire, and now AI.
Nothing new here. Move on.
@cq production will continue to grow and it’ll be done with far fewer people. So if you’re expecting a career in OnG odds are you’ll be disappointed down the road.
I don’t agree, I think Oil and gas is a growing industry. Most commodity focused companies always have tight margins and challenges, but I don’t think it mean the industry is not growing. We are producing more than ever before and I think that will continue to grow.
@c8 this is absolutely the best advice
If you're early or mid career think longer term about the implications of a shrinking oil and gas industry, and where you want to be in the future. This will NOT be the last round of layoffs if history is any guide. Do not wait too late to transition to something else with more long term promise. Don't box yourself into a role that will not translate to another one elsewhere. It is quite rare that you will make it past 55 (or even 50) in this industry and by then it would be too difficult to pivot.
Maybe not a sale maybe a strategic merger
We’re laying off staff in preparation for a sale to whom? Another company that is laying off staff? Are their layoffs also a sign of preparing for their own sale…to us? I just don’t see the logic. Are assets always “for sale?” Yeah probably. Could a reorg make future asset sales easier? Maybe. But nothing is different going forward. Not everything is a damn conspiracy.
MRO’s layoffs to lean out helped clear the path for its sale to COP, and CEP was tapped to absorb Willow cost overruns, prop up shareholder returns in a market that has largely pulled back from oil and gas, and seize distressed E&P opportunities in a low-price environment. But the harshest part of all this is that the cuts landed on the people who showed up every day and built these companies—impacting real families, not balance sheets. The current administration’s policy climate that was supposed to be friendly has only added pressure on workers across the industry, making an already painful period even harder for those trying to make a living in oil and gas.
@b4 Marathon had roughly 1/10 of the workforce size of COP and it sold. MRO was in fact extremely lean. COP will still be bloated relative to actual lean orgs no matter the result of CEP.
i think New Town is a candidate for divestiture.
you don’t make a company more efficient when trying to sell it - you make it more bloated. COP is cutting costs, cash flows will go up so valuation goes up. If you want to sell then run a bloated company to where potential buyers can buy justify the purchase by acquiring you and running it more efficiently.
COP isn’t going to be acquired because no one else wants Willow.
I'm betting Bakken goes OBO and Eagleford up for sale 2027. Keep most Permian positions for about 5 years then start offload them as they get drilled out.
I'm also betting this reorg was to prepare to buy someone. Not sure who.