HAL Halliburton Co

By Maria Armental

Oilfield services company Halliburton Co. (HAL) is eliminating about 650 jobs in its Rockies region, citing local market conditions.

The region includes Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and North Dakota.

A company spokeswoman said Halliburton offered most of the workers the option to relocate to other areas where more activity is anticipated. She didn't offer additional comment.

Halliburton's profit fell by more than half for the first half of the year amid softness in North America. Company officials said they had seen a modest improvement in hydraulic fracturing activity in North America but expected reductions in the second half of the year and said they expected the slowdown to be more pronounced in gas basins due to persisting lower gas prices.

The Houston-based company booked more than $300 million in impairment charges for the six-month period through June 30, including about $77 million in severance costs.

Company officials said they would continue looking to cut costs "and adjust the size of our North America operations for the market environment."

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 09, 2019 15:10 ET (19:10 GMT)

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