Posted on 01/20/2015 12:05:20 PM PST by tcrlaf
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Inc said it expects to lay off about 7,000 employees, days after industry leader Schlumberger Ltd said it would cut jobs as drilling activity slows due to a steep fall in oil prices.
Global oil prices have tumbled almost 60 percent since June, hitting five-year lows as growing production and tepid global demand has caused a supply glut and prompted oil producers to scale back spending.
Schlumberger said last week it would cut 9,000 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Do you remember lining up a long chain of dominos and then giving the first one a push?
Get out of stocks.
One can already see the devastating impact of crashing oil prices in Texas. Home sales are leveling off, people being laid off and there is little hope for a fast recovery in oil prices.
America needs oil to be back at $100 to $120 a barrel and gas prices to be back at $3.50 a gallon.
Any negative economic news after this point is the fault of “big oil”. And it must be stopped, maybe even nationalized? For the good of the 99%, of course.
Americans scream for lower gas prices and now we want them higher?
“America needs oil to be back at $100 to $120 a barrel and gas prices to be back at $3.50 a gallon.”
Um, speak for yourself, maybe Texas needs that, but I think most drivers are just fine with gasoline prices where they are.
Funny when oil prices are high we are reminded about the law of supply and demand and free markets, but when prices are low for oil the same people want something done to bolster up the price.
If the Energy Sector does not prosper, America will not prosper.
Which people are asking for what?
The worst thing that could happen to the US oil industry is have the government try to help it.
Yep, for some people, their dedication to the free market melts away quickly when the fickle market forces turn against their self interest.
“Americans scream for lower gas prices and now we want them higher?”
All bubbles bust.
What a coincidence. Millions of MC-Jobs isn’t causing enough vehicles to roll off the new car lots.
Only those that are of the Exempt Ones, will be permitted limited new luxury SUVs.
Oil is a volatile commodity. The energy sector knows this and they take appropriate steps to weather the low points in the price cycles.
If the people who work in the energy sector, or depend on those workers to support their businesses, do not do the same, well, then that is their oversight, and they are going to suffer for it. Dem’s the breaks.
I'm normally a stridently free market kinda guy, but I also believe their are certain commodities and products that we MUST produce domestically in order to thrive...even survive...as a sovereign country.
Oil, food, ships, aircraft, all armaments...they all fit in the Minimum Essential category.
That's why we need to guarantee the price of Domestic Crude at $75 and Guarantee Tariff of Imported Crude to price it at $90.
These could be adjusted over time by the Congress, but we MUST PROTECT THIS STRATEGIC INDUSTRY IN THE INTERESTS OF NATIONAL SECURITY, Mises and Adam Smith be damned.
That’s odd because Middle America was being beat like a drum prior gas prices nose diving. Now the oil companies say America will not prosper with low gas prices?
Hmmm
Funny how that works...
Insane.
Are you trying to destroy the US refining and petrochemical industries?
I think you are being insensitive to the plight of the American oil industry and the hard working oil field professionals.
Life in west Houston and the Woodlands is going to get very rough and there will be a trickle down effect that will negatively impact the local BMW dealerships, endless pool designers and First Class flights to Tahiti.
Where are the people going to shop if the Neiman Marcus closes?
And the last time gasoline prices dropped? late 2008-2009, 1998~1999, can you point me to the prospering economy of those days?
We are the third largest oil producers in the world because we have a lot of people working in the industry. The effects on the economy are far more widespread than just the direct hires.
15% of total employment gains since the beginning of 2008 have come from the energy industry, even though it is less than 1% of the country’s job base.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/12/investing/oil-prices-job-cuts/
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