Tag: job cuts

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Alberta Canada Economic Ft Mac

Cenovus Energy Announces Job Cuts, 440 Positions Affected

Cenovus Energy has announced job cuts, with 440 positions at the energy company affected. This means that the company has cut jobs by 31% in just the last two years. Since the end of 2014 Cenovus Energy has eliminated 1,600 positions in an effort to stay competitive in an environment where oil profits have declined and prices are very low. According to company spokesperson Brett Harris it was not possible for the company to specify an exact breakdown of which locations will be affected by the job cuts, but Harris did confirm that the positions being eliminated will affect contractors and full time employees both. Harris explained “These are really difficult decisions to make, but absolutely necessary to keep a workforce in line with the economic environment.”

Cenovus Energy is not the only oil and gas company to engage in job cuts in order to stay competitive, and lower oil prices mean leaner business models if a company wants to stay in business and avoid going under. Harris explained that around 190 workers have already been let go, and most of those affected were contractors. Cenovus plans to eliminate another 250 positions in various field offices and in Calgary later on in the month. Last year in 2015 Cenovus Energy responded to market conditions by cutting their staff by a whopping 24%. The company also plans on trying to cut costs by $200 million, and these cuts will impact almost every area of the company. Operating costs, administrative costs, general costs, and other expenses have been targeted for reduction.

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac

More Layoffs and Job Cuts Planned by Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy has confirmed that the company will be engaging in more job cuts and layoffs although an exact number of the jobs affected or the disposition of these jobs has not been addressed yet. Oil has now gone up past $40 a barrel, leading some to hope that things were turning around for the region and local economy. In the last few years company after company has cut jobs, laid off workers, and trimmed spending and expenses in order to stay competitive. The announcement by Suncor shows that the economy has still not fully rebounded and things are still somewhat tough for oil companies in the current environment.

Sneh Seetal, the spokesperson for Suncor Energy, recently gave an interview and discussed the planned job cuts and layoffs. “In regards to which oilsands projects we’ll be looking at, some of this is the in situ replication work. There’s no set number, because we need to make the business decisions and decide what’s the work that needs to be done, while doing it efficiently and making it sustainable. That will be the workforce we need as we go into the future.” Seetal also stated “As we make those adjustments to our workforce, our workforce requirements will change and unfortunately this means some people will leave the organization. This is a stressful time for people, but we are committed to treating people with dignity and respect. This continuation of our cost reduction efforts and our need to be a low cost operator is to maintain our competitive position, regardless of different market cycles.”

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac

Nexen Energy Announces Job Cuts, 120 Employees Laid Off

Nexen Energy has announced more job cuts and the company has laid off another 120 employees as the oil industry in Alberta tries to stay profitable and competitive with lower market prices and an economy that has not yet fully recovered. Nexen is not the only company who is scaling back and letting some employees go. Earlier last year Nexen cut around 400 jobs, 40 of these in Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo, and then in November of 2015 the company laid off another 60 employees. The latest round of job cuts is just the last issue in a long line of problems that Nexen Energy has faced in the last few years. As the energy giant fights to stay competitive and cope with the current economy and oil market there may be even more job cuts announced in the future.

Nexen Energy spokesperson Brittney Price released a statement about the job cuts and other moves the company has made in the last year or so, stating “Given the current economic reality, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce. These changes impact approximately 120 Canadian employees. We take these decisions seriously, and all impacted employees have been treated fairly and with respect.” An explosion at the hydrocracker at the Long Lake facility operated by Nexen in January has added to the company problems, and two workers were killed because of the explosion. There is still an investigation being conducted about the explosion but the Wood Buffalo RCMP have not found anything suspicious about the accident so far.

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Economic Ft Mac

Job Cuts at Husky Energy May Just be a First Step, Asset Sales Being Considered as Well

job cuts, Husky Energy

In addition to the job cuts that have taken place at Husky Energy the company has announced that it is also considering the sale of assets in order to stay competitive and cut costs as much as possible. When the company posted the third quarter financial information the business had a loss, and so far 1,400 people have been laid off. 280 of these individuals were full time employees of Husky Energy, and roughly 1,120 of the positions eliminated involved contractors. The company also announced that additional cuts will be made and further layoffs will be coming. This is in addition to a salary freeze over the entire company workforce. A report released by Husky Energy included the statement that “Additional workforce adjustments will be undertaken as required in line with the business plan.”

Cutting jobs is not the only priority for Husky Energy right now. In addition to large job cuts the company is also thinking about selling off third party royalty interest that it currently holds, and the sale of assets that involve properties that have natural gas and oil potential. The report released by the company explains that “This would allow for a more focused capital program with a much larger proportion of capital deployed to higher return assets in a low oil price environment. Accelerating the rejuvenation of the Western Canada business with these initiatives will improve its resiliency through the various commodity cycles.” A $101 million dollar loss was posted by Husky Energy for their third quarter this year.

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac

Nexen Energy Announces 400 Job Cuts Due to Recent Oil Price Drops

Nexen Energy, job cuts

Nexen Energy has announced job cuts due to the recent drop in the global price of oil. According to the company 400 jobs will be slashed in the cost cutting effort. According to Nexen Energy 340 jobs will be cut from the North America operations, and 60 jobs will be cut from the North Sea UK operations. The job cuts represent almost 15% of the Canadian staff that the business has. While there are layoffs and terminations planned Nexen Energy does not plan on instituting a hiring freeze at the moment, and active recruiting is still going on for almost 90 different jobs in the safety and production categories. Some of the positions being recruited require very special skill sets, so transferring some of the laid off employees into these positions is not an option because of this. According to one source “You can’t, for instance, take an accountant and make him a firefighter. Unfortunately the skill set does need to come close.”

The job cuts announced by Nexen Energy are just the latest cuts in the energy industry. Many oil companies have been cutting back as oil prices continue to decline. It is very unlikely that the previous high prices will return anytime soon, and that means the energy industry has to be more cautious about expenses and exploration costs to offset lower profits and lower crude oil prices. Fang Zhi, the CEO of Nexen Energy, wrote “Our long-term perspective continues to be fundamental to how we make decisions for our organization. CNOOC Limited’s rationale for acquiring Nexen remains the same – it was not made with a short-term view, but rather to acquire, and responsibly develop long-term, quality resources.”