Baker Hughes laying off 60; blames sinking gas prices

Baker Hughes, an oil and gas services company, is closing its Houma plant and laying off 60 workers.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN)/Notice of Layoff submitted to Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, the facility – located at 2137 Bayou Blue Road – will close for “a short period of time,” but the layoffs are expected to be permanent.

In the document, Baker Hughes attributed the closure and layoffs to the declining price of oil.

“The North American oil and gas market is experiencing reduced exploration/drilling/production as a result of the declining price of oil,” Baker Hughes said in its letter to TPCG. “These conditions have negatively impacted the market and reduced the overall need for the services provided by Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes is responding rapidly to these changing market conditions and in order to meet the business needs of our customers, we are making the difficult business decision to reduce our staffing levels for some locations in the U.S.”

Some work will continue as the facility is being closed down, and Hughes will continue paying its employees for 60 days, and benefits will continue for three months following the layoff. The layoffs were scheduled last week.

The following job titles to see cuts and number of employees let go are administrators (2), assembly maintenance and overhaul (11), field engineers (7), field operators (18), field specialists (12), operations management (5), operations support (3), quality (1) and repair and maintenance (1).

Parish Economic Development Department Marketing Manager Katherine Gilbert-Theriot said Baker Hughes is doing everything it can to help the laid-off individuals find jobs including offering a transfer to some of them and contracting a private firm to help others find another job.

“Baker Hughes is trying to do this as painlessly as possible. It’s never painless, but they’re trying to mitigate the concern for the workers, and we appreciate that,” she said.

Baker Hughes Enterprise Media Relations Specialist Melanie Kanla released the following statement to The Times Monday.

“Baker Hughes must reduce its cost structure companywide in order to remain competitive in this challenging business environment. The company is making every effort to minimize workforce reductions, and therefore is making the difficult decision to close or consolidate facilities in certain areas. Employees at these locations may be eligible for redeployment. Even as we take these difficult but necessary steps, we remain focused on customers and have plans in place to ensure that we maintain high quality service levels.”

Baker Hughes did not provide further comment.

The company announced a merger with Halliburton in November in which Baker Hughes Stockholders received 1.12 Halliburton Shares plus $19 in cash for every share they own.

On the parish level, Gilbert-Theriot said she hope’s the Baker Hughes announcement is a isolated incident.

“Anytime there is any sort of job loss in the community, it does concern us,” Gilbert-Theriot said. “We’re watching the community and the industry very closely to try to keep a handle on what’s going on.”