Oil giant ConocoPhillips is planning to conduct mass layoffs. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that 20% to 25% of the company’s employees and contractors would be impacted worldwide, according to the Associated Press. The cuts would potentially affect 2,600 to 3,250 workers.
“We are always looking at how we can be more efficient with the resources we have,” a ConocoPhillips’ spokesperson said, adding that the majority of the reductions were expected to take place before the end of the year.
CEO Ryan Lance detailed plans for this in a video message, according to Reuters. “I know these changes create uncertainty, and they are unsettling,” Lance said in the video. “As we streamline our organization and take work out of the system, we will need fewer roles.”
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A fall in oil prices has put a lot of pressure on ConocoPhillips and its rivals this year, forcing them to cut staff, curb capital spending, and reduce drilling. Chevron also announced it would lay off up to 20% of its staff in February, and other energy companies, including SLB and BP, are also cutting workforces. Lance mentioned that oil costs have risen to about $2 per barrel, making it harder for the company to compete, and that controllable costs had risen to $13 per barrel in 2024 from $11 in 2021.
In April, sources told Reuters that ConocoPhillips had hired management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group to advise on the restructuring and layoff program, referred to internally as “Competitive Edge.” The company’s net income had shrunk to about $2 billion in the second quarter, the lowest since the quarter that ended in March 2021, when demand was ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. ConocoPhillip’s shares have fallen 4.7% this year, as of Wednesday afternoon.
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“Companies are figuring out how to do more with less,” said Dan Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.
ConocoPhillips is not the only company to be affected by major job cuts of late; a number of companies across different sectors have conducted mass layoffs this year. Workers in the tech industry have in particular been severely affected. Google recently cut 35% of its workforce, slashing more than a third of its managers responsible for small teams. Other companies that announced major layoffs include Scale AI and Intel. Accenture has also announced an organizational restructure, though it is not certain how many employees this would affect.