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Halliburton cuts workers across Rockies region as activity slows

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Halliburton cuts workers across Rockies region as activity slows

Halliburton Co. laid off about 650 employees in its Rockies region as it shifts focus away from the North America land market.

"Making this decision was not easy, nor taken lightly, but unfortunately it was necessary as we work to align our operations to reduced customer activity," senior communications director Emily Mir said in an Oct. 8 email.

Mir said most of the affected employees in the region, which includes Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and North Dakota, were offered the option to relocate to other Halliburton operating areas where more activity is anticipated.

Halliburton North America land operations span the Canadian Rockies to the California coastline and from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico. The company focuses on conventional and unconventional reservoirs containing oil and natural gas, according to its website.

Its focus in the struggling North America land market, however, has shifted as customer demands have changed, CEO Jeffrey Miller said during a Sept. 4 presentation at Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference.

Producers are focused on efficiency and well productivity as they exercise capital discipline but also attempt to offset declines from a maturing production base, Miller said.

Halliburton is addressing the market changes as shale plays industrialize and mature and as operators address a shift in shareholder interests including production growth, capital discipline and healthy free cash flow generation, Miller said.

The CEO said the company remains committed to the North American land markets, but opportunities to grow its revenue are in non-frack businesses.

Since the first quarter of 2017, Halliburton's non-frack revenue per rig has increased by 40%. In the first half of 2019 alone, non-frack revenue grew 13%, Miller said.

Miller said the oilfield services company has grown its share of services per well in the North American land market as it invests in non-frack service lines including cementing, wireline and artificial lift.