Oil Company Plans to Lay Off Thousands

Oil giant ConocoPhillips is planning to lay off up to a quarter of its workforce, amounting to thousands of jobs, as part of broader efforts from the company to cut costs. A spokesperson for ConocoPhillips confirmed the layoffs on Wednesday, noting that 20% to 25% of the company's employees and contractors would be impacted worldwide. ConocoPhillips currently has a global headcount of about 13,000—meaning that the cuts would impact between 2,600 and 3,250 workers, the AP reports.

"We are always looking at how we can be more efficient with the resources we have," a ConocoPhillips' spokesperson said via email, adding that the company expects the most of the reductions"to take place before the end of the year. ConocoPhillips shares fell 4.3% Wednesday. The Houston-based company's stock now sits at under $95 per share, down nearly 14% from a year ago.

Last month, ConocoPhillips reported second-quarter earnings of $1.97 billion. That beat Wall Street expectations but was down from the nearly $2.33 billion the company reported for the same period last year. In its latest earnings, reported on Aug. 7, ConocoPhillips continued to point to cost-cutting efforts—noting that it had identified more than $1 billion in cost reductions and margin optimization. The company also said it had agreed to sell its Anadarko Basin assets for $1.3 billion.