Weatherford cutting thousands more jobs, selling fracking business
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/02/02/weatherford-cutting-more-jobs-and-selling-u-s-fracking-business/February 02, 2017
Weatherford International said it plans to sell its U.S. hydraulic fracturing business and its Middle East drilling rig division as it continues to cut jobs worldwide.
The financially struggling oil field services giant is focused on downsizing and debt reduction. Weatherford executives said Thursday they’re cutting another 3,000 jobs worldwide while closing additional facilities. Roughly 2,000 cuts are already made — about half late last year and the other half in January — with another 1,000 layoffs on the way.
New Weatherford interim Chief Executive Krishna Shivram said he plans to sell the already idled pressure pumping business, which includes fracking, or combine it with another company. Weatherford, which operates out of Houston, has about 20 U.S. fracking crews. Next year, after making upgrades, Weatherford intends to sell its land drilling rigs business, including more than 100 rigs, that’s based primarily in the Middle East and North Africa.
The goal is to bring in a combined $2 billion or so from the sales while making Weatherford a more “asset light company with improved returns.”...
Since the beginning of 2014, Weatherford has reduced its workforce to below 30,000 from more than 67,000....
