Oil and gas firm Chesapeake Energy today started laying off hundreds of workers, a cost-cutting move concentrated on employees at the company's Oklahoma City headquarters.
Chesapeake is laying off roughly 13 percent of its workforce — about 400 people — across the company. In an email to employees, CEO Doug Lawler said layoffs were needed to reduce debt, enhance profit and improve the company's cash flow.
Chesapeake has restructured in recent years, selling off subsidiaries, laying off workers and shedding roughly 25 percent of its wells to concentrate drilling in a smaller number of key oil and gas fields.