The oil and gas industry shed nearly 51,000 drilling and refining jobs in March, a 9 percent reduction that is likely to get worse as futures prices fell into negative territory yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. March’s job losses increased by 15,000 when ancillary jobs such as construction, manufacturing of drilling equipment and shipping are included, according to BW Research Partnership, a research consultancy, which analyzed Department of Labor data combined with the firm’s own survey data of about 30,000 energy companies. “We’re looking at anywhere between five and seven years of job growth wiped out in a month,” Philip Jordan, the company’s vice president said in an interview. “What makes it sort of scary is this really is just the beginning.” The price on the futures contract for West Texas crude that is due to expire Tuesday fell into negative territory — minus $37.63 a barrel — with the pandemic bringing the economy to a standstill and American energy companies running out of room to store oil. The price on the futures contract due a month later settled at $20.43 per barrel. An unprecedented output deal by OPEC and allied members a week ago to curb supply is proving too little too late in the face of a one-third collapse in global demand. With no end in sight, and producers around the world continuing to pump, that’s causing a fire-sale among traders who don’t have access to storage.
