we were told that massive layoffs will occur in early 2016. a friend of mine who is a land man for SWN just posted that he go the ax yesterday in West Virginia after 10 years with the company. he had nothing negative on his record, just a bad time to be in the industry.
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Remember this?!
Houston-based company plans regional office in Arkansas
By CHUCK BARTELS | Updated Feb 8, 2013
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) - Propelled by its finds in the Fayetteville Shale natural gas reservoir, Southwestern Energy Co. announced Thursday it will build a $25 million regional headquarters in Conway and add to the 600 workers it already has in the state.
The Houston-based energy company is to erect the 100,000-square-foot building near the Hendrix College campus, part of a university development that will mix commercial and residential, creating a village atmosphere where employees will be able to walk to work.
After the markets closed Thursday, the company announced it would spend $2 billion on capital projects, $1.5 billion of which would be in Arkansas in the Fayetteville Shale play. The company said it would continue to run about 20 rigs in Arkansas and increase production by 48 percent for 2009.
Regarding its Conway office, Southwestern Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Harold Korell said the company will add about 50 people to its present Arkansas office staff of 170. Those positions include petroleum geologists, various engineers, land experts and accountants to ensure royalties are paid to landowners, plus support staff.
With the new regional headquarters, total staff will grow to 650 and, ultimately, to between 850 and 900. Of those, up to 450 positions will be in high-paying knowledge-based jobs, Korell said. Construction is to begin within a few months and be complete in mid-2010.
The company's Fayetteville Shale operation began in early 2000 with one person in Fayetteville, then several people operating out of two house trailers in Morrilton. Now, with a full complement of drillers and engineers, Korell said it has become relatively easy to attract talent to fill positions.
"These are jobs that will be here for more than a couple of generations," Korell said.
He said the company wants to work with local universities - Hendrix and the University of Central Arkansas - to develop new employees. At present, the company is hiring engineers mainly from Texas and Oklahoma, he said.
Gov. Mike Beebe noted that wages will average $60,000 per year, and Korell said some engineers will earn in the range of $150,000 to $175,000 per year.
The company has 13 drilling rigs that it owns. It hires out for others. Southwestern Energy has invested more than $2.5 billion so far in its operations in the state. Korell said further expansion depends on the price of natural gas but he did not anticipate any reduction in the Arkansas operation.
Beebe said the state was providing performance-based incentives to Southwestern Energy, the same as is offered to other projects of similar size. The company is eligible for sales tax rebates for building materials, he said.
Conway Mayor Tab Townsell said that while the city has grown a lot over the past decade, not much of that development has been visible from the main highway, except for some additional retail. Southwestern Energy's headquarters building will be seem from Interstate 40, which Townsell said will signal that Conway is a city worthy of having a corporate home office.
"We're not just a sleepy suburb," Townsell said.
The city recently landed a commitment from Hewlett Packard Co. to build a service and technology center that will employ 1,200 people. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has begun hiring and has said it will stick to its plan, despite the recessionary economy.
Faulkner and White counties have seen their sales tax receipts go up as the nation as a whole has watched unemployment increase and spending shrivel. Beebe attributed much of the state's economic resilience to drilling in the shale and the resulting royalties being spent by landowners.
The governor also noted that the state has seen its share of layoffs and pledged to provide training for those workers to get them back on the job. Whirlpool Corp. recently announced 700 more layoffs as it scales back its operation in Fort Smith, a city that has seen hundreds more manufacturing jobs cut as the economy plunged into its nosedive.
Yet, there are further signs of economic strength in the state. Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. announced Wednesday that the 1,400 jobs at its Texarkana plant were safe, and the plant will increase hours and add likely workers. Four wind energy-related firms have either built or announced factories in Little Rock and Jonesboro, creating hundreds of jobs and investing millions.
Korell said one factor that played into the company expanding its presence was that it has been made to feel welcome in Arkansas.
"That's not always true where we go in the energy business," Korell said.
With its proximity to the Fayetteville Shale natural gas reserves, Townsell said he had been waiting for the area to cultivate a deeper economic connection to the energy industry.
"This has been the Fayetteville Shale announcement that the city of Conway has been waiting for," Townsell said.
But, but, but....its SWN's responsibility to provide jobs to all the poor folks that live in backwoods AR towns. All the execs should resign so the internet know it all's can run the company.
You think swn is gonna pay some of you to sit around? No fracing+no drilling= no job. No wonder swn can't get ahead. People like you live in a fantasy world.
Actually a handful of contract employees did get let go yesterday, on a Sunday.... jackass.
Totally confirmed by that dude who heard it from his buddy who was the sole person to be laid off on a Sunday.
Confirmed
Was this an announcement from management or just hearsay?