TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Declining crude oil prices have forced three major industry firms with strong northeastern Oklahoma ties to lay off workers.
Apache Corp., Baker Hughes and Schlumberger have begun laying off employees in response to the oil price crash in the past six months, The Tulsa World reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/1CaBwHR ).
Apache's job cuts will likely impact several hundred employees of the Houston-based oil and gas producer, which is one of the nation's bigger independent firms. The Tulsa regional office, which employs more than 125 people, will not be spared from the cuts, a spokeswoman said.
"Yes, all locations are impacted," Apache spokeswoman Castlen Kennedy said. But she would not specify how many of those cuts were focused in the Tulsa office, which oversees the company's operations in the Anadarko Basin of western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle.
Oilfield service firm Schlumberger is letting go of 9,000 of its approximately 120,000 employees. The layoffs actually began in the fourth quarter of 2014 and will continue this year. The Houston-based company would not say whether the cuts would directly affect the company's Bartlesville plant, which produces, researches and develops electrical submersible pump technology.
"Reducing staff numbers and reviewing future staffing requirements has become necessary in today's lower commodity pricing environment and anticipated lower exploration and production spending in 2015," company spokesman Stephen Harris said. "However, no details on how many, when and where we expect these reductions to come from are being released."
Baker Hughes, which has a research-and-development center in Claremore and other sites in Broken Arrow, Sand Springs and Barnsdall, also has announced planned job reductions. The Houston-based company has not yet confirmed whether those cuts will impact the Oklahoma plants.
Two weeks ago, Denver-based producer SM Energy announced it would close its Tulsa office, which employs 100 people.
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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com