National Oilwell Varco says cut 6,000 jobs in quarter

National Oilwell Varco reported a net loss of $119 million, or 32 cents a share in Q1. National Oilwell Varco photo.

April 28 (Reuters) – National Oilwell Varco Inc, the largest U.S. provider of oil drilling equipment, said on Thursday it slashed 6,000 jobs in the first quarter as weak oil prices forced its customers to cut production and exploration.

“Oil prices and oilfield activity continued to plummet during the first quarter of 2016, causing our customers to cut spending to bare minimum levels,” stated Clay C. Williams, Chairman, President and CEO of National Oilwell Varco.

The company received no new rig orders for the second quarter in a row in the three months ended March 31, Chief Financial Officer Jose Bayardo said on a call with analysts.

Houston-based National Oilwell had 50,197 employees as of Dec. 31. Based on this number, the company cut about 12 percent of its workforce in the first quarter.

“While this market has been very tough on our business, I am grateful for the leadership and perseverance demonstrated by National Oilwell Varco’s tremendous employees.” said Williams

“Better days lie ahead.”

The company reported a net loss of $119 million, or 32 cents per share, for the period, compared with a profit of $310 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.

National Oilwell’s shares were down marginally at $31.54 in late morning trading. Up to Wednesday’s close, the stock had fallen 42 percent in the last 12 months. The S&P 500 Oil & Gas Equipment and Services sub-index fell 16.6 percent.

(Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)