Noble Energy plans another round of layoffs

Noble Energy, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in Northern Colorado and one of Greeley’s largest employers, is preparing to lay off more of its workforce next month because of the shrinking commodities market.

“This week, we communicated to our employees that in November we will be adjusting the size of the organization to reflect anticipated activity levels and the ongoing commodity price environment while preserving long-term opportunities,” Houston-based Noble said in a statement. “While maintaining an eye toward the future, we expect a reduction in our capital investment in 2016 to manage within cash flow. Activity levels are anticipated to remain lower until commodity prices support increased investment.”

The company’s Denver and Houston offices did not return calls seeking specific details about how the cuts would affect its Colorado workforce.

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However, Noble (NYSE: NBL) did tell the Houston Chronicle that the cuts would occur in mid-November. More details may be coming on Monday during Noble’s third-quarter earnings call.

The company, whose largest onshore drilling operations are in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, posted its second straight quarterly loss in August and noted that it had decreased production in the second quarter after a record first quarter.

November’s cuts will mark the second round of layoffs this year. In April, citing weak oil prices, Noble laid off 220 employees in the United States, including 20 workers in Greeley and 80 in Denver. Before those layoffs, the oil and natural-gas producer had about 1,050 workers in Colorado, including more than 500 based in Greeley.

Noble built the first $15 million phase of its regional operations center in the Highpointe Business Park in west Greeley in 2012, and started on a $20 million expansion in early 2014.

Last week, Noble announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Noble Midstream Partners LP, had filed a registration statement for an initial public offering that could raise up to $100 million.

The number of shares to be offered, the price per share and the timing of the offering have not been decided, according to a statement, so that proposed maximum aggregate offering price is subject to change.

Noble Midstream plans to apply to list its common units on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NBLX.

Noble Energy recently formed Noble Midstream to own, operate, develop and acquire a wide range of domestic midstream infrastructure assets – with a focus on those in the D-J basin. The limited partnership currently provides crude-oil, natural-gas and water-related midstream services for its parent company through long-term, fixed-fee contracts.

Barclays, Baird and J.P. Morgan are acting as book-running managers of the offering.