Schlumberger Shrinking Staff to Lowest Since Pre-Shale Era (3)

Schlumberger Ltd. said it’s cutting one-fifth of its workforce as the oil services giant warned that new waves of Covid-19 could derail the nascent recovery in global energy demand.

The Houston-based company on Friday posted its worst quarterly sales in 14 years, reflecting the devastating impact of this year’s plunge in drilling activity on the hired hands of the oil patch. Like its peers Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Co., which also reported earnings this week, Schlumberger has borne the brunt of massive cutbacks in energy industry spending.

“This has probably been the most challenging quarter in past decades,” Chief ...