Halliburton to Cut 5,000 More Jobs--Update

By Tess Stynes

Halliburton Co. said it is slashing 5,000 positions, or 8% of its global workforce, the latest sign of weakness in the energy sector struggling to cope with a commodities rout.

In a statement, Halliburton said, "unfortunately we are faced with the difficult reality that reductions are necessary to work through this challenging market environment."

The latest round of cost-cutting comes less than a month after Halliburton, a bellwether for the sector, said it had laid off another 4,000 workers at the end of 2015 as it posted a fourth-quarter loss, hurt in part by a sharp drop in revenue in its North American division.

At the time, Halliburton, the second-largest oil-field services firm behind Schlumberger Ltd., said the layoffs at the end of 2015 brought to 22,000 the number of jobs cut since the 2014 peak, representing a 25% reduction.

Halliburton is in the process of acquiring Baker Hughes Inc., the third-largest energy company in this space, in a $35 billion deal. But the merger has been delayed by antitrust concerns from the U.S. Justice Department and other competition authorities around the world.

Shares of Halliburton, down 18% in the past three months, declined 0.9% to $32.17 in Thursday trading.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2016 14:38 ET (19:38 GMT)

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