Layoffs in the Oil Patch 3

[Shazam]

Well that's too bad. I did hear that they were extremely unhappy with the lease rates. I'm also sure that O&G prices being where they are that this was a good opportunity for them to clear some staff.

It'll free up Glenmore a ton though.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yeah the WFH push has a be careful of what you wish for element. Not only is it a race to the bottom for some roles, in terms of wage. It’s also a global market in terms of talent.

Know what slowed down even more transition?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine.

They have a lot of cheap talent over there, and nobody minds talking to a Ukrainian.

Lots were displaced to NA, and now those workers make NA wages.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by 5abi

So imperial is moving their hq to edmonton?

I’m so confused how’d that work for disciplined like g&g and engineering

It sounds like much of the G&G and engineering work is going to Houston. Some drilling and ops work will go to Edmonton. Unless I'm misunderstanding things.

[Locke]

There was always going to be consequences to WFH.

[5abi]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

It sounds like much of the G&G and engineering work is going to Houston. Some drilling and ops work will go to Edmonton. Unless I'm misunderstanding things.

More short for us g&g

[Fuzz]

Yes, nobody offshored work before the pandemic and WFH. Companies valued their loyal employees and would never lay them off to save money. Big America is the problem, and no Canadian companies ever outsource anything.

WTF kind of fantasy kaleidoscope are you inhabiting?


I'm sorry for your job loss.

[Shazam]

it's just a lot easier to do it now. An insistence on WFH means that you've very clearly outlined that your physical presence is irrelevant, and that none of job functions rely on it. So why bother paying your expensive wage when I can hire someone from South America?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Shazam

it's just a lot easier to do it now. An insistence on WFH means that you've very clearly outlined that your physical presence is irrelevant, and that none of job functions rely on it. So why bother paying your expensive wage when I can hire someone from South America?

Its similar to the Postal Strike.

"Oh. You were on strike? I was wondering why I didn't get my A&W Coupons or the Sears Catalogue...do they still do those? Huh. Okay. Well, I also didn't care."

It is usually imprudent, from an employment perspective, to point a giant spotlight on the ease with which you can be replaced.

[Firebot]

Imperial already outsourced many of their staff prior to this announcement. QP is a ghost town compared to what it used to be, with many of its operations managed by Exxon Mobil globally.

Likely, this is in preparation to fully dissolve Imperial Oil as as a separate entity from Exxon Mobil.

Frankly, it sucks. I'm sure it's easy to point fingers and put the blame wherever they can (WFH, UCP, Calgary, whatever narrative you want to chose), but this is the cold hard reality is that yet another significant employer has just decided to exit out of Calgary.

This is not purely a non-Canadian entity problem, but global companies have much easier avenues available to outsource from within the company.

[Weitz]

Imperial has their Norman Wells problem or else I’d suggest they are totally getting out of Canada. I could see them holding onto Kearl et al to pay for that wind down then bailing.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Firebot

Imperial already outsourced many of their staff prior to this announcement. QP is a ghost town compared to what it used to be, with many of its operations managed by Exxon Mobil globally.

Likely, this is in preparation to fully dissolve Imperial Oil as as a separate entity from Exxon Mobil.

Frankly, it sucks. I'm sure it's easy to point fingers and put the blame wherever they can (WFH, UCP, Calgary, whatever narrative you want to chose), but this is the cold hard reality is that yet another significant employer has just decided to exit out of Calgary.

This is not purely a non-Canadian entity problem, but global companies have much easier avenues available to outsource from within the company.

No. I have heard the inside scoop and knew this was coming. It’s not the bolded, and the hit is primarily going to be Calgary while they keep Edmonton / Fort McMurray as primary field offices. Calgary may have a handful of jobs left.

Traditionally Exxon-Mobil, which really is only majority owner of Imperial shares (so essentially calls the shots) has kinda left Imperial to run itself. And traditionally Imperial has done an excellent job of that. But I believe Exxon-Mobil is going through a bit of a worldwide “why do we have all these regional “head offices?” Conondrum where they feel they should only have 1 or 2. So goodbye Calgary and I’m sure key people will have the opportunity to stay aboard if they want to move to Edmonton, Houston or Fort McMurray. But I don’t think all the above means rebranding to Exxon-Mobil as that’d be expensive and no real good reason. Imperial still has a good brand and they make a ton of dough off the oilsands so it’s not like they’re leaving, just the jobs. A normal government, like the international ones, force US companies to hire XX number of people though…………

Feel for those that I’m friends with and good people getting this hammer. Between Petronas, ConocoPhillips 25% cuts coming in November, and others- multiple companies facing bankruptcy and gas being negative all last week… oil isn’t exactly screaming… tough times for the oil patch. For this quarter. It’ll be back eventually. Always does.

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by Firebot

Imperial already outsourced many of their staff prior to this announcement. QP is a ghost town compared to what it used to be, with many of its operations managed by Exxon Mobil globally.

Likely, this is in preparation to fully dissolve Imperial Oil as as a separate entity from Exxon Mobil.

Yea, Exxon has been doing this for decades. They had outsourced a significant portion of Syncrude's supply chain to Argentina before Suncor took over the operatorship from Imperial.

Given how awful Exxon is, it's too bad they're not selling the Imperial assets and leaving Canada

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Crappy news for Imperial employees affected. This kind of garbage happens when you’re tied to a mothership American or European company, luckily there’s lots of strong Canadian companies like CNRL and Suncor that are always looking for good people.

Also a warning, to everyone, except I guess government employees where anything goes and nothing matters: A lot of the layoffs include offshoring jobs to these global business centres in India and elsewhere. This is becoming increasingly popular with big American firms (Exxon influence over imperial at work here). I’ve heard from a bunch of ex chevron and Exxon people that this is what they’re doing, and it’s not just oil and gas. This is a very predictable logical follow up to the work from home trend over the last 5 years and it’s only going to accelerate. If you’re able to convince your employer your job can function as a voice in a box from wherever location, don’t be surprised when they go seek out voices in a box for 1/10 what they have to pay North Americans. This should have been easy to see right at the very start, a lot of people seem to have had difficulty with that, but now that there’s concrete proof this is actually a thing there’s no excuse any more. Your biggest advantage is that you’re physically located in Canada where our companies operate

This was happening long before wfh was popular. I know people who were impacted by it in Fort McMurray. There should be rules in place about taking our resources and outsourcing jobs to other countries to do it.

[Whynotnow]

Another point, this industry is finally emerging from the public penalty box and governments outside of Alberta are talking about how to help it thrive. This is not a helpful move at all.

[indes]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

This was happening long before wfh was popular. I know people who were impacted by it in Fort McMurray. There should be rules in place about taking our resources and outsourcing jobs to other countries to do it.

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to monitor as these companies all have offices overseas, so the work is going over there - but not direct paycheques.

My company has moved as much work as possible overseas. Pretty much everything thats not field work facing has been moved over (data entry, procurement, accounting, estimating). They're already pushing the limits and have tried moving planning & engineering overseas but have had pretty brutal results, which isn't surprising because the other overseas work is awful as well.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Whynotnow

Another point, this industry is finally emerging from the public penalty box and governments outside of Alberta are talking about how to help it thrive. This is not a helpful move at all.

There's really not anything that's changed from the Canadian policy side.

I was also thinking that Trump's actions influenced this decision.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

No. I have heard the inside scoop and knew this was coming. It’s not the bolded, and the hit is primarily going to be Calgary while they keep Edmonton / Fort McMurray as primary field offices. Calgary may have a handful of jobs left.

Traditionally Exxon-Mobil, which really is only majority owner of Imperial shares (so essentially calls the shots) has kinda left Imperial to run itself. And traditionally Imperial has done an excellent job of that. But I believe Exxon-Mobil is going through a bit of a worldwide “why do we have all these regional “head offices?” Conondrum where they feel they should only have 1 or 2. So goodbye Calgary and I’m sure key people will have the opportunity to stay aboard if they want to move to Edmonton, Houston or Fort McMurray. But I don’t think all the above means rebranding to Exxon-Mobil as that’d be expensive and no real good reason. Imperial still has a good brand and they make a ton of dough off the oilsands so it’s not like they’re leaving, just the jobs. A normal government, like the international ones, force US companies to hire XX number of people though…………

Feel for those that I’m friends with and good people getting this hammer. Between Petronas, ConocoPhillips 25% cuts coming in November, and others- multiple companies facing bankruptcy and gas being negative all last week… oil isn’t exactly screaming… tough times for the oil patch. For this quarter. It’ll be back eventually. Always does.

Good post about Exxon. Makes total sense regarding their actions.

[fotze2]

They still have massive operations downstream and upstream. I believe they are also one of the largest private landholders in Canada with Devon Estates. They also have massive swaths of land undergoing remediation. Not really outsourceable. Cold lake will take 50+ years to clean up and it’s still cash flowing lots. And of course kearl and the refineries in Ontario/Sarnia.

[Shazam]

Oh they'll still have a huge operational presence here, just management will happen somewhere else.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Oh they'll still have a huge operational presence here, just management will happen somewhere else.

Why are you shilling for them? Just management happening somewhere else, shrug, it’s fine. Keep sending jobs and profits elsewhere, to a country largely hostile to our interests. How are you even remotely ok with this?