US oil and gas faces bleak jobs outlook
Seven out of 10 US oil and gas jobs lost because of this year’s crash will not be reinstated by the end of next year, as a humbled industry overhauls the way it operates, according to new projections by Deloitte. The energy sector was forced to make sweeping lay-offs in recent months as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the market. Analysis by the Big Four accounting group suggests a push to digitize and make operations more efficient means many of these jobs may never return. “[The sector] is going to change in constitution and a lot of the old jobs — the way they were done — are not coming back,” said Duane Dickson, vice-chairman at Deloitte’s oil and gas business. “What we are seeing here is the reset button being pressed.” About 107,000 jobs were slashed in the US oil, gas and petrochemicals sector between March and August, according to Deloitte. If, as expected, US oil prices remain around $45 a barrel and gas around $2.50 per million British thermal units, it expects only 30 per cent of these to return by the end of next year. The industry has been a reliable employer for decades, especially in states such as Texas and North Dakota. Over the past 10 years the shale boom drove employment to new heights as production surged to as much as 13m barrels a day.
But the pandemic crippled oil demand as planes were grounded and cars kept off the roads. Prices plunged, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate dropping into negative territory. Producers and service providers were forced to cut costs across the board, sending activity tumbling and triggering mass lay-offs. Output fell below 10m b/d and the rig count — a key measure of oilfield activity — dropped 75 per cent on the previous year. Now, even as activity edges back up, the industry faces a combination of difficulty attracting investment and a lengthy period of depressed demand.
