The number of people working in the oilpatch, both in Oklahoma and across the nation, fell in June, reaching the second-lowest June on record, despite the near all-time high in domestic crude oil production.
The total oil and gas extraction employment dropped to 114,500 workers for the month according to a report by OilPrice.com.
The report explained Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and Imperial Oil all announced big layoffs this year, and its mergers and automation driving it, not falling oil prices. The jobs disappearing fastest (roustabout and wellhead labor) pay a fraction of what the jobs going unfilled (electricians, automation techs) pay, and geothermal projects and AI data centers are already soaking up some of the overflow,
Chevron us trimming its workforce by 9,000 jobs this year, a cut that represents a fifth of the company’s global workforce. The move is part of Chevron’s $53 billion Hess deal. Oil Price also explained that ExxonMobil trimmed 2,000. BP shed more than 5 percent of its staff, plus 3,000 contractors. ConocoPhillips is cutting 20 to 25 percent. Imperial Oil is cutting a fifth of its people and shutting its Calgary office entirely. And in June, U.S. oil and gas extraction employment fell to 114,500 workers, the second-lowest June the Bureau of Labor Statistics has on record, beaten only by the pandemic bottom of 2021.
And before anyone assumes it’s renewable energy’s fault…it isn’t, not directly, at least. Nobody at Chevron got a pink slip because a wind farm opened next door. Automation, mergers, and a decade of investors who’d rather see returns than growth did this.
