With the historic collapse of oil prices and the spread of the new crown virus, global oil field service providers may cut more than 1 million jobs in 2020, rystad Energy said in an analysis released recently.
The global oil industry is suffering from an unprecedented double whammy, the report said. Rystad energy estimates that 21% of employees in the global oilfield services industry (OFS) will face unemployment in 2020. At present, the oilfield service industry employs more than 5 million people.
Service companies in the shale oil industry will be hit hardest, the report said. Price shocks could result in up to 32 per cent cuts in drilling activity. In addition, the contractor will slow down the development of oilfield services due to concerns about the spread of new coronavirus on the construction site.

According to Reuters, at present, a number of oil field service providers in the United States have begun layoff plans.
Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services company, has said it will cut its annual budget by 30% in 2020 and take measures such as layoffs and wage cuts in North America. Halliburton, the US oilfield services company, said it would lay off 3500 employees in the Houston area. Apache, the US oil and gas exploration and production company, cut jobs Monday in Midland, Texas, and plans to shut down all local oil and gas production platforms. Exxon Mobile, an American energy company, has cut 1800 jobs in Louisiana and warned suppliers and contractors to cut production. Chevron, the US energy company, said in early March that it would cut jobs from April 6 and planned to sell its natural gas business in the Appalachian region.
The Houston Chronicle said WTI, the US benchmark crude, had fallen below $25 a barrel in the past week. This level is the same as that of SARS in 2003.
The oil industry is no stranger to its economic cycle, but the recent price shock has been unprecedented, said David Middleton dordy, an oil industry analyst.
According to Marshall Middleton Watson, a professor of petroleum engineering at Texas Tech University, the employment of oilfield service employees is often the first to be impacted when the oil industry enters a depression period, according to the US business insider.
Source: China news, China Chemical News