Though fourth quarter revenue increased 6 percent from 2013, the world's largest oil services company, Schlumberger, said it was resizing.
"In this uncertain environment, we continue to focus on what we can control," Chief Executive Paal Kibsgaard said in a statement. "We have already taken a number of actions to restructure and resize our organization that has led us to record a number of charges in the fourth quarter."
Low oil prices are forcing international energy companies to trim their spending plans for 2015. The pull back is spilling over to secondary sectors, with U.S. Steel, which makes pipe for the energy industry, and oil services company Halliburton already announcing layoffs.
Kibsgaard said full-year revenue of $48.6 billion was a 7 percent increase from 2013 and marked the fifth straight year of growth. Performance was driven in large part by operations in North America, and marginally by work in the Middle East, which saw a 10 percent increase year-on-year.
With futures contracts showing crude oil priced below the $50 per barrel mark through mid 2015, the company said performance moving forward needed to be based on transformation and changes in the way it works.
Kibsgaard said that, although there were signs that global oil demand would increase, forecasts for growth in global gross domestic product has "softened," leading to uncertainty in 2015. This, in turn, means exploration and production, the sector on which Schlumberger thrives, is expected to be "sharply lower," the CEO said.
