Schlumberger reduces workforce by about 2,500 in 1Q

HOUSTON (AP) — Schlumberger NV trimmed its workforce by about 2,500 people in the first quarter as the company's profit slumped 49 percent amid the continuing slump in oil and gas drilling.

The company, with bases in Paris, Houston, London and The Hague, Netherlands, is the world's largest oilfield-services provider, helping energy companies explore for and produce oil and gas.

The decline in drilling activity "reached unprecedented levels as the industry displayed clear signs of operating in a full-scale cash crisis," he said in a statement issued by the company after U.S. markets closed on Thursday.