Employment trends dip in oil, gas production business
Washington (Platts)--19Apr2005
Employment by the largest US oil and gas companies slipped 4.1% in 2004, the 20th decline in 23 years, John S Herold Inc. said Tuesday. The Houston-based research company said the top 25 companies have shed almost 120,000 positions since 1999. In 2004, employee headcount among the firms fell by more than 21,000 jobs to just over 514,000. Since the 1981 oil price peak, the giant oil companies have shed more than 1.11-mil employees, Herold said. Despite the trend, the report says it sees "extremely strong growth prospects in the years ahead for oil and gas personnel in all facets of the industry, from the wellhead to the executive suite." Herold Chairman and Chief Executive Arthur L Smith added that, "the oil industry faces a Herculean task in overcoming its reputation for brutal treatment of professionals during the past two decades of downsizing." Unless oil and gas companies take drastic steps to reverse the "brain drain" of the energy industry, "a severe personnel crunch is preordained," he said. This story was originally published in Platts Natural Gas Alert http://www.naturalgasalert.platts.com
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