On Tuesday, the U.S. benchmark for crude oil, West Texas Intermediate, settled at $36.50, while the global benchmark, Brent Crude, settled at $39.65. However, the impact of low prices has been felt by employees over the last two months.
Devon Energy, one of the larger producers in Eddy County, confirmed on Tuesday that about 20 percent of their workforce had been laid off company-wide since the beginning of this year. Another 15 percent will follow in June.
Tim Hartley with Devon's corporate communications said in emailed statement that the 20 percent equals to about 4,000 to 5,000 across the company, but could not provide specific details as to how many of those positions were located in New Mexico or Eddy County.
"About 700 of those (jobs) were at headquarters in Oklahoma City and 200 were at field locations in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Canada," Hartley said in his email.
According to Devon Energy's fourth quarter operations report from Feb. 16, the company was planning on approaching operating costs in 2016 by reducing costs by $800 million.
The 20 percent workforce decrease was also reported in Devon Energy's fourth quarter operations, which it states would bring their total workforce reduction to more than 25 percent over the past 12 months. With this decrease, the quarterly report said Devon is estimated to cut costs by $400 to $500 million on annual basis.