More Layoffs Planned for Oil Field Workers

EAST TEXAS — More layoffs will be hitting the East Texas oil field industry, with a Canadian-based company telling state regulators it will lay off 125 in Longview and GE saying it will cut 330 jobs in Lufkin, according to the Longview News-Journal. Continuing signs of the collapse of petroleum prices that are forcing oil companies to jettison workers as they adjust to leaner profits. The U.S. benchmark crude oil price has been cut in half since June.

Trican Well Service informed the Texas Workforce Commission it planned to lay off 125 from its Longview operations by the end of March. Industrial conglomerate GE, meanwhile, notified regulators it would lay off 330 employees in the East Texas manufacturing operations it acquired from pumping unit maker Lufkin Industries. The layoffs are expected to be complete by April 30.