I was a contractor who was let go this past Friday. While I hold no animus (I actually enjoyed my time at SWN very much), it is obvious that SWN is very poorly managed. My position did not exist before I was hired in January. Why would a company enter into a new management contract, create a new position, and then, less then six months later decide to terminate that same position? Let's start with the obvious, I'm actually very good at my job, I was not let go for incompetence or lack of productivity.
It's not like these financial troubles happened overnight, and it's not like the few thousand dollars that they were spending on my salary will save the company. So, what's left is extremely poor planning, and terrible optics. Who is going to contract with a company that regularly breaks their contractual obligations? Bottom line, while I hope for the best for all my former colleagues, I doubt that any amount of cutting will actually save the company. This is just a painfully long, slow, death-spiral. Unless something dramatic changes in the natural gas market, and or in the way the company is managed, it's only a matter of time before there is no company left to save. I suggest you look for other, better work sooner rather than later. At least get the process started, before it gets started for you.