National Oilwell Varco (NOV) has confirmed that another 520 of its employees will be laid off, the latest casualties of the sharp economic downturn in the oil and offshore industries. Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reported that NOV’s main office in Kristiansand was likely to be hit the hardest.
NOV already has laid off hundreds of its workers and warned recently that more of the company’s 2,400 remaining full-time employees were facing more staff cutbacks. As company officials have said before, the cuts are a result of the downturn in exploration and oil drilling, the sector in which NOV specializes. There’s simply not enough work to justify current staffing levels.
“We are experiencing a sharp reduction in investments in the oil and gas sector, which results in reduced sales of new equipment and demand for our services,” a NOV spokesman said.
Halliburton, a large US-based firm that’s been a major player in the oil and gas industry, was also reportedly on the verge of announcing more job losses. The company has been active in Norway and has thousands of employees around the world.
newsinenglish.no staff
