Any thoughts why that if they even remotely were thinking of vamping up production in the U.S. would they be laying off now ?

Just a guess,
Exxon bought Pioneer and the 400 they laid off I'm guessing were clerical workers.

Anticipating less regulatory compliance procedures and paperwork?

Looks like the same for Chevron.

"changes to the organizational structure".

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereks...to-20-of-employees-impacting-up-to-9100/

Wanting to ramp up energy production is one thing, getting those wheels rolling again is another.
Just trying to reinvigorate the Keystone project requires a ton of physical logistics and resources be put back in place plus twenty seven miles of paperwork and permit hoops to jump thru on both sides of the border.

I’m just a layman but it seems the most often used lament in that industry is we are short of refinery capacity. If that’s true it would seem that could be addressed the fast and have impact to the end user the soonest.

Again just going by what I read.

Osky

The Administration and the American public want to see increased levels of domestic oil production, but I’m not sure that sentiment is shared by oil company executives. More oil on the market means lower prices to consumers, netting them less profit. And ramping up production could mean activating higher cost, low producing wells.

Oil companies may talk the talk of wanting to ramp up, but I think privately they like maintains current levels of production and pricing.

Maybe they still remember trading oil in the negative. I know I still remember stocking up on gas at $1 a gallon.

Hopefully they are shifting around to get more efficient and not that they are expecting a downturn in demand as in a recession. But I'm afraid that may be case.

How much do you anticipate they are going to ramp up production?

Do you think they're going to drive oil down to $40 or $50 a barrel and lose money?

Maybe executives who don't like Trump are laying people off and blaming it on Trump. TDR is bad. Federal refuges here in NE have laid people off (it is February) and screaming how bad Trump is.

$80 / barrel is where it needs to sit for economic stability. There has been a lot of unnecessary positions created by government programs in the past few years. DEI and GND were gaslighting dog and pony shows and added a bunch of duff in the workforce. Time to trim the fat and move forward.

Couldn't they just blame Trump without laying off help and affecting their bottom line. That seems like an expensive move just to get a liberal jab in.

I didn't go to church this morning because of bad weather and I told them I blamed the groundhog. They texted back and said "bad old groundhog", lol.

Are these layoffs all in the U.S.?

I think I read chevron lay off was going to be 9k people I have been pay attention to these companies a bit buying some stock.

If your state just pulled the plug on harvesting raccoons ie. no season, no check laws, no restrictions on trap size, let you trap on all property regardless of ownership are you going to go out and trap more coons when you get 2 bucks for them now, and by trapping more floods the market and drives prices lower. The same thing is happening with the oil market, trump is pulling the plug on restrictions to drilling and leasing lands do you thing the oil companies are going to flood the market with cheap oil?? I have worked in the oil business and though many think the president some how controls the market your dead wrong. The companies are there to make money for the company and share holders. The oil companies will lease more federal lands and hold on to them for down the road when prices increase but will never cut their throat and drive the price down. The 2 dollar a gallon gas you saw in Trumps first 4 years was because consumption dropped because of Covid no one driving world wide.

Here is google said: Chevron Corp., which recently relocated its headquarters to Houston, plans to lay off from 15% to 20% of its global workforce, roughly 6,000 to 8,000 people, by the end of 2026 to cut costs and simplify its business as profit margins decline.

What would make them think profit margins might decline. Maybe they are thinking more ramp than vamp !

They are laying people off because they don't need them. No other reason than that.

Wonder at what price it would have to get to before they would start filling the salt mines. That kinda acts as a support, but should be kept for severe need such as war and not as something to regulate the market on the top side. Surely oil in reserves wouldn't go bad and get salty would it.

Nobody who actually understands the energy industry is excited about $70 oil. Or where the price is probably headed.

Exactly right.

If I am energy investor I certainly don't want any company I am involved with to increase their costs while contributing to a lower price for their product.
That's a lose -lose situation.


There is a little more going on beneath the surface though.

Trump wants to see interest rates decline but he has no direct control over that aspect of the equation. He, and Bessent, believe that reducing the cost of energy will have the effect of reducing interest rates. It might but that is a pretty tenuous connection and may take a very long time. If the energy companies don't cooperate, this is likely to not work.

The most effective thing he CAN do is to reduce spending and the deficit.

Drill baby drill is a cool catch phrase. But oil companies won’t be taking it as the gospel unless oil prices are forecast to rise.
If drill baby drill happens, we’re all paying more to fuel our lives.