Wood Group, a company providing services to the international oil and gas industry, has so far this year laid off 13 percent of its workforce, aiming to cut costs amid the downturn in oil and gas industry activity.
The company on Tuesday said that a decline in industry activity sparked by a drop in oil prices “has inevitably resulted in headcount reductions”.
Group headcount is down 13% from the position in December and 17% from June 2014.
While Wood Group did not provide the exact number of the people laid off, the company’s full year 2014 report shows it had 39300 employees at the end of 2014.
This would mean that 5109 workers have lost their jobs in the first half of 2015.
Update: A Wood Group spokesperson has confirmed the number of around 5.000 affected. This includes approximately 3.000 in the US, 1.000 in the UK and 1.000 in the Middle East, the spokesperson said in an e-mail to Offshore Energy Today.
The company has said that the number of people includes both employees and contractors at June 30, 2015 and includes its proportional share of headcount in joint ventures.
“We anticipate that the full year benefit of overhead cost savings will be in excess of $80m and that the impact of these savings will endure in 2016. To achieve this, we have reduced headcount and discretionary spending, put tighter controls in place, accelerated shared service programmes, and are continuing with our pursuit of back office efficiencies,” Wood Group said in a statement.
Bob Keiller , CEO of Wood Group plc, said:
“Conditions in oil & gas markets remain very challenging. Performance in the first half demonstrates our commitment to cost discipline and the resilience and flexibility of Wood Group’s through cycle model. Our outlook for 2015 overall remains unchanged and we anticipate that full year performance will be in line with analyst consensus. With little prospect of short-term improvement in market conditions, we will focus on remaining competitive and protecting our capability, working with clients to reduce their overall costs, increase efficiency and safely improve performance.”
Offshore Energy Today Staff