Noble Energy plans 100 layoffs in Colorado, 20 in Greeley

GREELEY – Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) will lay off 220 employees in the U.S., including 20 workers in Greeley and 80 in Denver, the oil and natural-gas producer said Tuesday.

The Houston-based company blamed weak oil prices for the layoffs, which it said are part of a restructuring. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude gained 4 percent to $54 Tuesday, nearly half of highs seen last summer. Responding to the uncertainty, Colorado companies have slashed their 2015 capital budgets and trimmed their workforces.

The layoffs will drop Noble Energy’s total statewide headcount to 950 from 1,050 employees.

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“This realignment puts Noble Energy’s organizational structure and workforce size in line with expected activity levels in each area, and is accomplished by both centralizing resources and reducing our workforce as appropriate,” company spokesman Steven Silvers said in a prepared email statement.

The company, among the largest oil and natural-gas producers in Weld County, noted that the Denver-Julesburg Basin, a drilling region that includes Northern Colorado, remained its largest land operation. The basin also now serves as the base for the company’s land operations.

The announcement follows Noble Energy’s decision to slash its capital budget to about $900 million this year from $2 billion last year in Northern Colorado, a 55-percent decline.

The company earned $402 million during the fourth quarter, up from $134 million during the same period a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $1.07 billion, down from $1.3 billion the same quarter a year earlier.

Noble Energy projects 2015 sales volume growth of 5 percent to between 295,000 and 315,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Noble Energy shares fell 1 percent to $50.28 in afternoon trading.