January 7, 2016

The price of oil fell to $38 per barrel in December 2015, leading to massive cuts in the industry’s budget and workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the oil and gas industry saw a loss of almost 14,000 jobs between September and December 2015; job losses are expected to increase through 2016 as oil prices continue to fall.

In general, smaller companies with budgets less than $100 million have made the most reductions (averaging 49.6 percent), while major multibillion-dollar companies have cut the least (averaging 19.8 percent). These reductions will likely cause a $200 billion loss in oil field production worldwide.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), E&E News