Driller: More than 1,000 field hands out of work as rigs decline
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/02/12/driller-more-than-1000-field-hands-out-of-work-as-rigs-decline/
Rig contractor Precision Drilling Corp. says more than 1,000 of its trained rig crew workers are out of work as oil companies have idled hundreds of rigs across North America.
Fifty of Precision’s 250 drilling machines, each with crews of 20 to 25 field hands, are no longer running after oil prices have been cut in half since last summer, the firm said in its fourth quarter earnings release Thursday.
“Precision recruited, trained and developed many excellent crews to support the demands of our customers over the past several years, and unfortunately we now don’t have work for many of these dedicated workers,” Precision CEO Kevin Neveu said in a written statement.
“When the industry begins to add rigs again, I am certain Precision rigs will be among the first to be re-activated and I know we will do everything we can toget our Precision trained crews back up and operating our rigs,” he said.
The Canadian rig contractor, which has about 100 rigs deployed to U.S. oil fields in Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, had a $114 million net loss, or a loss of 39 cents a share, in the fourth quarter.
That’s compared to a gain of $67.9 million, or 24 cents a share, in the same period the year before. Revenues grew from $566.9 million to $618.5 million. The company took a $222 million charge for decommissioning 29 rigs and goodwill impairments.
Precision, which has its main U.S. office in Houston, employs 8,530 workers, mainly in North America. Its shares have fallen 61 percent to $5.66 apiece in the last seven months.
The contractor’s layoffs are only the latest in a string of cutbacks in the oil patch. Services firm Halliburton Co. and oil equipment maker FMC Technologies have said this week they’re laying off more than 7,000 employees combined.