Southwestern Energy announced Thursday that it is cutting 40 percent of its workforce – 1,100 jobs – to deal with low gas prices.
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Southwestern said it had 2,781 employees at the end of 2014.
According to Southwestern, the reduction comes after a decline in natural gas prices over the past year.
SWN says it’s providing outplacement services, employee assistance, severance and other benefits to support impacted employees and their families through the transition.
In a statement, the company said the “organizational changes” are necessary to be competitive in a “low gas price environment”.
The layoffs are due to the decline in natural gas prices.
Anticipated lower drilling activity led to the layoffs.
Two other companies that have been active in the Fayetteville Shale – BHP Billiton Ltd. and XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp. – have reduced their operations in the state and are not actively drilling. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southwestern Energy Company from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $8.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 15th.
In August, Southwestern announced it was laying off 102 employees, 80 of them in Arkansas. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwestern Energy Company will post $0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Employees were notified of a workforce reduction plan Thursday.
The company won’t release its 2016 spending plans until next month, Fowler said.
“We will still have a presence here”, Fowler said.
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See Friday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
