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US oil companies are cutting thousands of jobs to meet falling gross prices, rising tariffs and consolidation of industry waves.
President Donald Trump promised the Oil and Gas Boom Times when he took office in January. Instead, the industry cut 4,000 positions through August, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The layoffs will result in layoffs as OPEC+ members fell 13% this year as supply to the global market is rapidly increasing. West Texas Intermediate was trading for under $63 per barrel on Tuesday. This was below break-even price, where many shale oil producers in Texas need to drill new wells on profits.
The three largest US oil companies Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Conoco Phillips As the industry consolidated, it announced it all in 2025 after major acquisitions over the past two years.
Exxon is cutting 2,000 positions to implement a restructuring plan, a spokesman said Tuesday. Chevron announced in February that it would cut its workforce by up to 20% until 2026. Konoko said earlier this month it would cut its workforce by up to 25%.
Meanwhile, the broader energy sector has cut 9,000 positions through August this year. According to data from Challenger, Gray and Christmas, there was an approximately 30% increase in layoffs compared to the same period in 2024.
According to Challenger data, employment plans to fill around 1,000 openings this year, and is almost stopped as it plans to drop by about 90% from more than 12,000 openings in the same period in 2024.
Suffering oil patch
Shale Oil executives have criticised Trump for increasing costs due to steel tariffs, while also driving lower oil prices, warning that this will lead to unemployment.
“The administration is pushing $40 per barrel crude, and tariffs on foreign tubular goods will raise prices and extinguish drilling,” one executive said in an anonymous response to a quarterly survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
“The oil industry will again lose valuable employees,” the executive said.
Another executive said the administration was in line with OPEC+ policies at the expense of US producers.
“Instead of supporting domestic production, they are effectively aligned with OPEC. They use supply tactics to lower prices below economic thresholds and acquire US producers in the process,” the executive told the Dallas Fed.
The same executive said the oil major is pushing industry to introduce “entrepreneurs who once defined the shale revolution.” Exxon recently acquired Pioneer natural resources for $60 billion, Chevron bought Hess for $53 billion, and Conoco bought Marathon oil for $17 billion.
“In their place, a handful of giants now dominate, at the expense of enormous unemployment and the destruction of the innovative, risk-taking culture that made the US shale industry great,” the executive said.
A White House spokesman said Trump is “repeatedly carrying out burdensome regulations killing the industry,” and praised the president’s policies in a record-breaking production in June. Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed that the administration is cutting the deficit and making drilling cheaper.
