Any RIF'ing in Asia?

[ExpatOilWorker]

The major Service Companies announced substantial reduction in force a couple of weeks ago. I know of whole crews that have been laid off in the US, but so far I haven't seen any signs of heads rolling in Asia. It might just take time to filter through the system and management could be making ranking list right now.

Any reduction in force in your part of the industry, service, rig, operator?

Schlumberger Ltd. has announced cuts of 9,000 jobs, Halliburton 6,500 and Baker Hughes has reduced 7,000 positions. Weatherford International Plc has announced 8,000 dismissals.

http://business.financialpost.com/2015/02/10/halliburton-co-cutting-up-to-8-of-workforce-amid-oil-collapse/

[Soutpeel]

Schlumberger Ltd. has announced cuts of 9,000 jobs, Halliburton 6,500 and Baker Hughes has reduced 7,000 positions. Weatherford International Plc has announced 8,000 dismissals.

seeing as all 3 have operations in SEA on suspects there will be cuts in all these companies this neck of the woods as well.

Are the operators in SEA in cost saving mode ?....you bet your life they are, projects postponed, cancelled etc

[stoneyboy]

My uncle in Korea has had to change to 42/21 rotation from 28/28,move out of his apartment and slum it with a load if undesirables.

Thats on top of a cut in the day rate,Halliburton on the Prelude job.

So one would imagine also yes that more changes etc will be coming.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Schlumberger announced an additional 11,000 layoffs and I am sure the other service companies will follow suit shortly. Non-essential, new hires and near retirement staff is already gone, next round will go a bit deeper taking out managers, engineers and non-critical operators.

Operators are also starting to trim down. Maersk in Qatar let go of 150 staff last week.

[NanLaew]

The big numbers being laid off by the service companies were mostly related to the US market. After +21 weeks of a sliding US drill count, the ax will now start falling further afield. There's a definite tightening up in the Far East and Australia although the latter coincides with a seasonal reduction. There's a bit of a stalemate forecast for mid-year as contractors have cut back to bare essentials and clients revise their strategies. Most 2015 exploration budgets were drafted in 2014 when prices were higher but there are still oil companies with exploration commitments that can't be deferred without penalty. Although the overall trend is for more inactivity, I have done more market surveys for clients in the first 4 months of this year than I normally get asked to do in a year. Contractors keep shuffling their decks almost weekly, hoping they have an edge on the competition, all waiting for the magic letter of intent that I haven't seen for a while. But I know of two tenders that were sent back due to the contractor asking silly prices so it will be interesting to see who blinks first.

I managed to pick up a two month job that came out of the blue last March. The contractor assumed all the risk to get the client to start early and the gamble paid off. The same contractor did the same in Q4 last year when the slippery oil price slope first loomed large and I managed two months before Christmas as well. I get to go home this weekend but I don't anticipate seeing anything else locally until late Q3 or Q4.

[NanLaew]

Having said the above, I had 18 days off and now back in Vietnam on 2 more projects through to July.

I told the wife to buy a lottery ticket!