Weatherford

Weatherford International plc has undergone a significant cost restructuring during the downturn, including a 42% reduction in its workforce over the past 18 months, management told investors during the company’s quarterly conference call Thursday.

Weatherford International plc, working overtime to overcome a string of poor quarterly performances, this year expects to generate cash flow well above forecasts after reining in costs and bringing in more cash than it spent in 2015 for the first time in five years.

Weatherford International plc is laying off another 1,000 people, mostly U.S. support staff, to deal with an energy industry that is “substantially underfunded and substantially underinvested,” CEO Bernard J. Duroc-Danner said Thursday.

Shale development and rising oil prices are pushing up domestic demand for oilfield chemicals at a rate of more than 8% a year, according to new research by The Freedonia Group Inc. By 2015 the U.S. market for chemicals should reach $13.6 billion, the Cleveland-based industry analyst said.

Halliburton Co.said it has reached an agreement to turn over to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) all documents related to fluids used in the controversial hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process, ending a battle that could have landed in court.

GE Power Systems expanded its already-significant turbinemanufacturing force with yesterday’s announced purchase ofWeatherford Global Compression Services’ Gemini division. Financialterms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

GE Power Systems expanded its turbine manufacturing force withyesterday’s announced purchase of Weatherford Global CompressionServices’ Gemini division. Financial terms of the acquisition werenot disclosed.