Schlumberger slashes 21,000 jobs amid pandemic oil rout

(AP) – Schlumberger is cutting more than 21,000 jobs as the global coronavirus pandemic quashes demand for energy and oil prices are routed. The company will pay more than $1 billion in severance benefits.

The job cuts announced on Friday, about a quarter of its entire workforce, puts the number of people employed by the world’s largest oilfield services company close to where it was at the start of the oil and gas fracking boom that upended global energy markets and put the U.S. on top.

Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in fracking, sought bankruptcy protection last month.