ConocoPhillips To Shed 1,000 Jobs

(RTTNews) - ConocoPhillips (COP) announced that it will lay off about 1,000 employees this year, mostly from North American energy jobs in the U.S. and Canada, according to media reports. The cuts were outlined in a town hall meeting with management Thursday.

The Houston oil explorer has finished assembling some major upstream projects, and now has "more organizational capacity than we need," ConocoPhillips spokesman Daren Beaudo said in an emailed statement.

"We have taken several steps as a company to adapt to lower and more volatile prices and strengthen our position coming out of the downturn," Beaudo said.

"Over the past couple years, we've significantly reduced our capital activities and finished some major projects, which left us with more organizational capacity than we need", he added.