80 employees let go from Chesapeake Energy

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — 80 people who worked for Chesapeake energy are now looking for new jobs. That is about 10% of their workforce.

The company said the layoffs come after they sold their operations in Texas.

Chesapeake Energy confirmed most employees found out over the phone that they would no longer have a job at the natural gas giant.

A company-wide email, obtained by News 4, was sent on Tuesday morning.

It reads:

Chesapeake Team,

Since exiting the Eagle Ford, we have continued to evaluate our operational cost structure to ensure we are positioned to lower our breakeven costs and achieve the strategic goals of our company. This evaluation has resulted in the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by just under 10% (approximately 80 employees), predominately from our Oklahoma City headquarters. Loyal and talented employees have been impacted today, and I am grateful for their contributions to our company. It is extremely important to me that impacted employees are treated fairly, respectfully, and that we support them with their career transition. As we discussed in our last townhall, we have much to be proud of. We must remain focused on improving the long-term competitiveness and strength of our company. These decisions are difficult and certainly not taken lightly but it’s imperative that we act decisively today. I appreciate your ongoing commitment and support to each other and our company.

Chesapeake Energy

The company stressed the job cuts are not due to Chesapeake's pending merger with Southwestern Energy.

Rather, company officials said selling their Texas assets allows them to focus on the other two locations they have in Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

"Layoffs occur because energy companies are looking to create some efficiencies that will make them more profitable in the end," said Chip Minty, a business reporter with The Journal Record.

As for Chesapeake, "they're transitioning to more of a pure play natural gas producer. The Eagle Ford was an oil player. They were producing huge amounts of oil down there, but Chesapeake wants to be more of a natural gas producer. So it's putting all of its energy into those two plays," said Minty.

Chesapeake is no stranger to layoffs in recent years.

There have been at least three rounds of job cuts since 2018, when about 400 employees were let go.

The merge between Southwestern Energy and Chesapeake Energy is set be complete later this year.