The oilsands producer plans to trim between 20 and 25 per cent of the 8,600 employees and contractors currently working at the two companies, said Cenovus spokesman
That would equate to between 1,720 and 2,150 workers. Curren said most of the cuts are expected to take place in
"As with any merger of this type, there will be overlap and there will be some difficult decisions as we work to create a combined organization best positioned for the future," he said.
"The estimate is that the reductions will be approximately 20 to 25 per cent of the combined workforce, which is currently about 8,600 employees and contractors."
It's the latest blow to the
Job cuts are also expected in the Canadian operations of
“This is a sign of the times in the energy industry that companies are having to navigate being more efficient and more productive," said
"In the long run it should make for a stronger
She added Suncor’s plan revealed this week to move its
The recent job cuts could make worse
"The market is quite bad right now and to layer on more sublease space ... makes quite a difficult market from a landlord's perspective," he said, noting lease rates have fallen as the vacancy rate rises.
"It's been happening on a smaller scale for quite a few years where smaller producers, smaller oil and gas companies are merging or trying to find efficiencies or laying off people."
The pandemic early this year caused demand for fossil fuels to plummet, leading to lower oil prices and causing Canadian companies to cancel more than
Synergies from the all-stock buyout of Husky by Cenovus are expected to result in annual savings of
About
"When you combine two companies with similar geographies and somewhat similar operations, you're always going to have some overlap ... in this case, there would probably be relatively a little more weight on the head office functions, just because we aren't quite as overlapping in the field,'' he said.
He added another
The combined companies are expected to be able to sustain output at about 750,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for about
The transaction has been approved by both boards and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Husky is controlled by
Cenovus shares rose by 6.7 per cent to
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:CVE, TSX:HSE, TSX:SU)
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