Lets face it, $45 oil sucks, activity has slowed down and it is a new paradigm. Bonuses will suck or be nonexistent no matter who you work for. And yes, our peers are not laying off as often or as much. Noble over hired and that is a fact. With lower activity levels the higher staff counts can't be justified. So what must be done will be done. There will surely be good hard (and most likely higher paid) working staff let go. As uncomfortable as it is at times at least Noble is not going under or putting itself up on the chopping block. I have gotten to know some of the former Rosetta staff and that company had to be one of the worst run ones in the industry. I am fortunate to not have experienced that disaster in my career yet. So, for now, I will take the Noble good and bad.
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Great post Brent! Thank you
Nope, what I am saying is that all companies make mistakes, all companies will have ups and downs, all companies will lay off and all companies will over hire at times. This business is cyclical. What you don't want to do is work for one of the "outlier companies" defined as ones on the edge or at the extreme. The companies going under or selling out to stay afloat (ie Rosetta) are the dangerous ones to work for. The companies like ours that are mid size and relatively stable may have swings but they are not going under. If you have ever worked for one of the unstable on the edge of bankruptcy companies, your frustration would be 10 X as bad. Yep, it is not great right now at good ole Noble but believe me, it could be worse
What you are really saying Brent is that Noble management can't be faulted for making bad decisions that destabilize the company like buying Rosetta, its just par for the cycle. By that logic management shouldn't take credit for success in an upswing either, its just par for the cycle. Sounds like the execs need to reimburse the company for all the bonuses they receive over the last few years. Apparently their decisions had nothing to do with the companies results, it was just par for the cycle.
Amen Brent!!