Exxon to Cut 14,000 Jobs as Pandemic Hits Oil Demand
ExxonMobil Corp said on Thursday it could cut its global workforce by about 15%, including deep white-collar staff reductions in the United States, as the COVID-19 pandemic batters energy demand and prices.Exxon and other oil producers have been slashing costs due to a collapse in oil demand and ill-timed bets on new projects. The top U.S. oil company earlier outlined more than $10 billion in budget cuts this year."The impact of COVID-19 on the demand for ExxonMobil's products has increased the urgency of the ongoing efficiency work," the company said in a statement.An estimated 14…
BP Cuts Spending by Quarter, Lowers Oil production
BP on Wednesday cut its 2020 spending plans by 25% and will reduce output from its U.S. shale oil and gas business in the face of the collapse in oil prices triggered by the coronavirus outbreak.BP and other big oil and gas companies are having to rein in spending sharply following the collapse in oil prices driven by a slump in demand because of the coronavirus crisis and a price war between top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia."This may be the most brutal environment for oil and gas businesses in decades," CEO Bernard Looney said in a statement.The company said it planned to spend $12 billion this year…
Partners Bring AI to Energy
Baker Hughes, C3.ai, and Microsoft Corp. announced an alliance to bring enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to the energy industry on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.This alliance will enable customers to streamline the adoption of scalable AI solutions for the energy industry that help promote safety, reliability, and sustainability. It leverages the energy technology expertise of Baker Hughes, C3.ai’s AI platform and applications, and the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. As a result, energy businesses will have a secure and reliable suite of enterprise-scale AI applications optimized to run on Azure.
BHGE to Bring AI to Oilfield
Oilfield service company Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE) has entered into a joint venture with the California-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) software provider C3.ai to accelerate the digital transformation in the oil and gas industry."AI in the oil and gas segment helps improve overall performance by ingesting massive quantities of data, becoming intelligent about specific operational environments and predicting problems before they occur so that operators can improve planning, staffing, sourcing and safety," said a press release from the fullstream provider of integrated oilfield products…
Record Low O&G Volumes Hurt Vallourec in Q1
French steel pipe maker Vallourec on Tuesday reported a net loss and fall in revenues in the first quarter as volumes plummeted to record lows mainly in the oil and gas businesses, but it said results will be better in the next quarter. The company, which supplies the oil and gas industry, said revenues in the quarter fell 36.2 percent to 671 million euros ($771.99 million) compared with the same quarter in 2015, while its net loss was 284 million euros. Oil, gas and petrochemicals contribute to about a third of Vallourec's business. "As expected, the first quarter of 2016 was marked by a decrease in volumes.
Total Plans Exploration Well in UK North Sea
French oil major Total plans to drill an exploration well at its Sween site in the British part of the North Sea, it announced on Thursday, expanding near its existing infrastructure in defiance of weak oil prices. Total said it will start drilling in the third quarter at the prospect located 150 kilometres east of the Shetland Islands and near its Alwyn platform. The North Sea is one of the oldest and therefore costliest areas to look for oil, resulting in a sharp reduction in exploration and output in recent years. British Prime Minister David Cameron…
Freeport Says Indonesia Exports Could Resume Soon
Freeport-McMoRan Inc said on Wednesday it expects to "imminently" sign an agreement with Indonesia that would enable it to immediately resume copper concentrate exports which have been halted for more than six months. Freeport said on July 8 it had agreed on a draft memorandum of understanding but had not signed it. At the time, it gave no time frame on when it would resume exports. Indonesia introduced a mineral ore export ban and a steep export tax in January. The gold and copper miner also reported second-quarter results on Wednesday that were little changed from a year-ago.
