Houston-based oil field services giant Halliburton Co. started to lay off several hundred people in Texas and Oklahoma on April 6.
Halliburton told the Texas Workforce Commission that it would perform mass layoffs at two Texas facilities starting on April 6, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letters sent that day.
The company also sent a WARN letter to the Oklahoma Office of Workforce Development the same day. Both state agencies provided the letters at the request of the Houston Business Journal.
The Texas layoffs will occur in Odessa and Brownfield, with 234 and 41 employees affected at each site, respectively. The Oklahoma layoffs will take place in Duncan and will affect 350 employees.
The Duncan site is a field camp — a hub from which Halliburton workers can go out and perform work at rigs in the area — said Halliburton spokesperson Emily Mir.
This layoff represents permanent employment loss for those affected, but the site is still expected to remain open, according to the WARN letter.
“Unfortunately, Halliburton is making reductions at our Duncan field camp as we adjust our workforce to reduced customer activity,” Mir said. “This was a difficult decision but is a necessary action as we face challenging market conditions.”
The Texas sites also are slated to remain open, though the job losses are expected to be permanent. Other specific details about the Texas sites were not immediately available.
Last month, Halliburton also put about 3,500 Houston employees on furlough for a 60-day period. Furloughed employees will alternate working one week and being off the next. They won't be paid for the time off but will keep their benefits.
Halliburton and other companies in the oil and gas sector have had to contend with a stomach-churning dive in oil prices, brought on by pressure from both increasing OPEC production and declining demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The layoffs in the industry associated with this oil price drop will likely come in two waves — the first in the field as companies slow operations, and the second in the office, as companies go bankrupt or merge with competitors, cutting corporate and technical support staff.