Houston: Houston-based Hercules Offshore has slashed its workforce by 40% this year, company CEO John Rynd told investors on Wednesday.
At the end of 2014 Hercules had 1,800 staff worldwide so the total must have plunged to below 1,100.
Rynd told investors in his quarterly conference call that the decisions to cut were “difficult” but unavoidable because of the plunge in the price of oil.
Hercules Offshore is a leading provider of drilling and liftboat services to the oil and gas industries but the company’s revenue plunged from $256.7 million to $122.6 million in the first quarter.
In the January-March period it cold-stacked five rigs, taking its total of stacked rigs to nine. It has only four rigs working.
“This is the lowest level of demand we have seen since the early days of the offshore industry,” Rynd said.
