Oil and gas companies are cutting workforces as they slash spending and amid consolidation driven by the coronavirus pandemic. Global fuel demand plunged by over 30% in the spring. While consumption has recovered since then, it remains below the year-ago levels, with major economies reimposing lockdowns to contain resurging COVID-19 cases. Industry analysts said more than 400,000 jobs in the oil and gas industry had been made redundant this year, of which over 2,000 were in Australia.
ExxonMobil said it would lay off 15%, or about 14,000 of its workers. Fellow US oil producer Chevron plans to reduce its global workforce by 10% to 15% this year in addition to 25% of workers at Noble Energy, which it acquired earlier this year. Shell said it would cut roughly 10% of its employees. Canada’s Cenovus said it would lay off 25% of its workforce after acquiring rival Husky Energy. Australia’s Woodside Petroleum has also announced plans to cut 8% of its staff.
