Cuts

One month after it cut expenditures by almost one-third, Houston’s Noble Energy Inc. has joined a growing group of peers in reducing even more spend, with the hit mostly to U.S. onshore operations, while it furloughs employees and cuts salaries in response to the never-ending impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic and sharp decline in oil and gas demand.

The energy sector was quick to take a red pen to the 2020 budget in March as the coronavirus turned into a pandemic and the price war continued overseas, but some operators are finding they have to cut deeper in the face of uncertain demand for oil and gas.

The energy sector was quick to take a red pen to the 2020 budget in March as the coronavirus turned into a pandemic and the price war continued overseas, but some operators are finding they have to cut deeper in the face of uncertain demand for oil and gas.

More than 3,000 people based in Houston have been furloughed by Halliburton Co., while ConocoPhillips and other big producers continue to cut capital spending in an increasingly dire situation, as the coronavirus and oil price war sink 2020 operating plans.

With prices fetched by Alberta heavy oil on the rise, the provincial government Wednesday reduced mandatory production cuts to 250,000 b/d from the 325,000 b/d ordered on Dec. 2.

Crescent Point Energy Corp. is reducing its workforce by 17%, or by more than 200 employees, potentially to save the Calgary-based company more than C$50 million annually as it works to “become a more focused and efficient company with a stronger balance sheet,” management said.

As it looks to protect its balance sheet in 2016, SM Energy Co. will focus its drilling and completion activity on the Permian Basin “to the maximum extent possible,” shifting to an oilier mix as it weathers the downturn in commodity prices.

Range Resources Corp. on Wednesday confirmed that it has laid off another 55 employees in response to the commodities downturn, announcing job cuts that primarily affect the workforce in Southwest Pennsylvania, where its core operations in the Marcellus Shale are located.

Responding to a $1 billion budget shortfall attributed to the crude oil price crash, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday ordered across-the-board cuts for state agencies and dipped into the state’s reserve funds.