Halliburton plans to cut up to 6,000 oil jobs

The oil services company seeks to address the collapse in oil prices; dismissal covers up to 8% of its workforce.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - US oil services giant Halliburton said Tuesday it plans to eliminate more than 6,000 oil jobs worldwide due to "difficult market atmosphere" created by the collapse of oil prices.

Halliburton is the latest in a growing list of companies related to the oil workers fired by the weak oil market.

The company said it expects output between 6.5% to 8% of its workforce of 80,000 people, which would be between 5,200 and 6,400 oil jobs.

Oil prices have fallen by almost half since June by a glut in the global market, which has forced many companies in the industry to reduce their investments and lay off workers.

Global oil prices have lost nearly 60% since June and have played five years minimum. The growing production and weak global demand have generated a surplus of supplies, leading crude producers to cut spending.

Given this complicated scenario, companies like Exxon Mobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and others have dedicido cut spending this year.

EU: the oil boom spread to employment. The revolution of unconventional oil and gas created 2.1 million oil jobs in 2012; together with the reduction of energy costs has helped it boost the US economy.

The rapid rise of shale gas (shale gas) and oil tight formations (tight oil) in the United States is nothing less than a revolution in the oil and natural gas. It can no longer be any doubt about the dramatic shift in the energy position of the United States.

The country's oil production has increased 50% since 2008, when he was supposedly scheduled to run out of oil. Natural gas production has increased by 33% since 2005 and the shale gas alone now accounts for about 45% of the total production of the first type of energy.

This revolution is not just about energy production, is an economic history that extends along several dimensions, whether measured in the pockets of consumers, employment, manufacturing or increasing competitiveness US in the world economy.

This has occurred against a backdrop of half a decade of deep recession and high unemployment. In fact, without the impetus of non-conventional elements, the US economic situation would have looked even worse in recent years.

According to a new study by my organization, IHS, entitled America's New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the Economy. A Manufacturing Renaissance, the rise of non-conventional energy increased the average disposable household income in 2012 at $ 1.200-a figure expected to grow to $ 2.700 in 2020.

That momentum is mainly the result of two factors. First, households are spending less of their total income on public services, either directly by the less expensive natural gas or reducing the price of electricity generated by that element. Secondly, reducing energy costs has led to a decline in prices of goods and services within the overall economy.

Government revenues are also seeing a boost because of the increase in new production. The value chain associated with shale gas and oil in tight formations contributed more than 74,000 million dollars in additional revenue for the federal and state governments in 2012 and this figure is expected to reach more than 125,000 million dollars in 2020.

A detail: How oil prices determined?

The employment outlook unconventional sector is equally impressive. Both unconventional energy supported 2.1 million oil jobs in 2012 throughout the value chain. That figure is expected to rise to 3.3 million within seven years.

These oil jobs include people who work in the industry of shale gas and oil in tight formations in related industries such as services and information technology focused on "black gold" and people whose oil jobs are supported by the increase expenditure which has flowed through the economy.

These oil jobs are spread throughout United States. The state of New York can be considered excluded due to their ban on hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Despite the restriction, nearly 50,000 oil jobs in the city were generated from the activity of shale gas and oil in tight formations in other states.

The abundant natural gas and inexpensive -generado by the emergence of shale spending is also transforming the EU position as a manufacturer. It is driving companies that manufacture products that this new industry needs, such as steel and pipes.

It is important in an even larger scale for companies that rely heavily on natural gas or electricity with the first element which range from manufacturers of petrochemicals and fertilizers to food producers and manufacturers glass.

Natural gas jobs

For these companies the inexpensive natural gas is an agent of change and stimulate an estimated 350,000 million dollars of new investments in North America during the next twelve years. This growth would have seemed inconceivable half a decade ago, when the expectation was that US manufacturers-and the entire US economy have to rely increasingly on expensive imports of liquefied natural gas and domestic gas.

The price of energy is only one component of the investment decisions of the company, along with other factors such as market forces, competition and regulatory and litigation risks. However, energy costs are equally critical and made EU more competitive in the global economy. In Europe, natural gas costs three times more than in the United States; in Japan, it is four times more expensive.

Business leaders in Europe are aware of the current US energy advantage, and are sounding alarms. CEO of Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine, Wolfgang Eder said that "the exodus" from the mainland has "begun in the chemical, automotive and steel industries." The company announced plans to build a $ 500 million plant in Texas to produce iron sent back to Austria for steelmaking. European suppliers follow their customers across the Atlantic, building new factories in the US to be near the new factories of its customers.

This summer I asked the IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, which means the development of shale gas to Europe's troubled economy. "The element and the reduction of energy prices is certainly to the benefit of the United States relative to Europe."

This advantage will be measured in increased exports of manufactured products from North America and more oil jobs. For Europe these developments only increase his anxiety. For the United States this shows an increasing as a result of the growth of unconventional oil and gas opportunity.

* The author is vice president of IHS and author of "The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World'.