Cameron May Shed 770 Jobs in U.K. and Ireland

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Oil and gas engineering firm Cameron (Houston, Texas) has announced that 770 employees may be let go in the U.K. and Ireland next year as the downturn in the European oil and gas sector continues.

The company, which manufactures flow and pressure control equipment for the oil and gas industry, said that 170 jobs may go next year at its manufacturing plant in County Longford, Ireland. In the U.K. OneSubsea (Leeds, England), which is owned jointly by Cameron and Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) (Houston) is considering closing its Leeds operation next year with the loss of up to 600 jobs. OneSubsea develops integrated solutions, products, systems and services for the subsea oil and gas market.

"The oil and gas industry is going through the most severe downturn of the past 30 years, with operators significantly reducing their investment," a OneSubsea spokesperson said, "This scenario has dramatically impacted OneSubsea order intake, leaving many of our plants underutilised. We are considering a proposal to cease manufacturing, assembly and test activities in Leeds during 2017. We understand the impact of this announcement on our employees and the local community. This is only a proposal at this stage, and we will be conducting consultation with the unions and employee representatives and make every effort to try and mitigate as much as possible the impact on our employees."

It added: "Under the proposed changes, we will keep a presence in Leeds and will continue to operate an engineering, project management and tendering hub in the city to continue to support our activities in the region."

In Ireland, Cameron met with employees and told them 170 of its 220 jobs would be going next year. In a statement that largely mirrors the one issued by OneSubsea in the U.K., the company pointed to the "most severe downturn of the past 30 years" and admitted that the "scenario has dramatically impacted Cameron Surface equipment and Subsea order intake, leaving many of our plants underutilised."

It added: "It is with great regret that we advised our employees today that potentially manufacturing, assembly and test activities in Longford would cease during 2017. Cameron will maintain a presence in Longford and will continue to operate an R&D, and engineering hub in the city. It is anticipated that we will continue to employ approximately 50 of our current employees."

OneSubsea was formed in 2013. In 2014, it was awarded an $80 million contract by Pharaonic Petroleum Company (PhPC) (Cairo, Egypt) to supply subsea equipment for the East Nile Delta END-3 development, off the coast of Egypt.

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