Halliburton To Reportedly Lay Off 1,000 Workers; Sees Q4 Charge

(RTTNews) - Oilfield services operator Halliburton Co. (HAL) will lay off about 1,000 employees outside the U.S. amid a fall in crude oil prices, according to media reports on Thursday.

The world's second-largest oilfield services provider will reportedly lay off employees from regions in the Eastern Hemisphere, with immediate effect. However, the lay offs are not related to the company's $34.6 billion acquisition of smaller peer Baker Hughes, Inc. (BHI), according to reports.

In mid-November, Halliburton said it agreed to Baker Hughes in a cash and stock deal valued at $78.62 per Baker Hughes share, or a total of $34.6 billion.

Mark McCollum, Chief Financial Officer of Halliburton, said at the Capital One Southcoast Energy Conference on Wednesday that Halliburton was expecting a restructuring charge of $75 million in the fourth quarter as it trims headcount and activities around the world.

According to a transcript filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, McCollum said, "We are right now anticipating a restructuring charge in the quarter, probably to the tune of about $75 million as we trim out some headcount and activities around the world...."

"In the Eastern Hemisphere our Middle East/Asia business continues to really - it's sort of the paradox, while the Middle East seems to be the nexus of our current woes in terms of dropping prices and production, activity in the Middle East continues to really ramp," McCollum added.

He further said that in the Eastern Hemisphere, Halliburton was starting to see headwinds in the Europe, Africa and Caspian regions.

U.S. crude oil ended sharply lower at a fresh 5-year low Thursday, on demand growth and oversupply concerns with the dollar strengthening against a band of select currencies after some robust economic data out of the U.S.

Crude oil futures for January delivery ended down $0.99 or 1.6 percent at $59.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

HAL closed Thursday's regular trading at $38.23, up $0.11 or 0.29 percent on a volume of 22.66 million shares. In after-hours, the stock declined $0.11 or 0.29 percent to $38.12.