Murphy Oil Corp. has laid off 250 employees, about 20 percent of its workforce, in response to low oil and natural-gas prices, the company said Wednesday.
The layoffs, which follow a 20 percent workforce reduction announced in October, come as Murphy Oil posted a $198.8 million loss in the first quarter.
The El Dorado company said the most-recent layoffs occurred at the end of the first quarter. Murphy Oil had 1,258 employees as of Dec. 31, according to Murphy Oil's annual report.
The company's spokesman did not return phone calls or an email Wednesday.
"Murphy remains focused on driving down operating and administrative costs across all segments of our business as demonstrated with our first quarter results," said Roger Jenkins, president and chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.
"The leaner organization and reduced costs better position the company to weather a possible 'lower-for-longer' commodity price environment," he said.
Oil prices have fallen about 60 percent since 2014 as the market became oversupplied with crude and demand weakened.
The prolonged price slump has stressed U.S. oil producers, forcing them to cut spending by idling drilling rigs and laying off tens of thousands of employees.
Prices have rebounded slightly since plummeting below $30 a barrel in January. On Wednesday, West Texas Intermediate crude rose 13 cents to finish at $43.78 a barrel in New York, and Brent crude fell 35 cents to settle at $44.62 a barrel in London.
While the low prices have hurt oil companies, it has resulted in some of the cheapest gasoline in years for consumers. On Wednesday, the average cost of gasoline was $2.02 a gallon in Arkansas, down from $2.38 a year ago.
The national average for gasoline is $2.22 a gallon, compared with $2.62 in May 2015.
Murphy Oil's reported loss of $198.8 million -- or $1.16 per share -- during the first quarter, was larger than analysts' estimates. The company had a loss of $14.4 million, or 8 cents per share, during the same period in 2015.
Luana Siegfried, an analyst with Raymond James, said in an email that she had expected the company to have a loss of $127.5 million, or 74 cents per share.
Murphy Oil said the quarterly results included a write-down of $95.1 million on its oil and natural-gas properties and restructuring charges of $9.3 million.
The property-value reductions occurred at onshore and offshore oil fields in Canada, the company said.
Murphy Oil said last week that it plans to sell its stake in an oil sands mining venture in Alberta for more than $746.8 million.
Under the deal with Suncor Energy, Murphy Oil will divest its 5 percent, nonoperating working interest in Syncrude Canada Ltd., a joint venture operation. Syncrude is the second asset in Canada that Murphy Oil has sold this year. The company also agreed to sell its natural-gas processing and sales pipeline in British Columbia to Enbridge G&P LP, a subsidiary of U̶n̶b̶r̶i̶d̶l̶e̶ ̶I̶n̶c̶.̶ Enbridge Inc.*, for $381.6 million.
Murphy Oil said it had revenue of $430.3 million for the period that ended March 31, down 53 percent from the first quarter in 2015.
In response to low oil prices, Murphy Oil cut its capital spending plans by more than 60 percent earlier this year. The cuts followed a 30 percent reduction in spending in 2015.
The company said Wednesday that it will not alter its spending plans.
Before Murphy Oil released its earnings Wednesday afternoon, Siegfried said Wall Street is watching to see whether energy producers increase their 2016 capital spending plans now that oil prices have somewhat recovered.
"Our view is that the market will probably not even care much about headline earnings beats/misses, simply bearing in mind how volatile oil was during the quarter," Siegfried said.
"Everyone released an initial capex [capital expenditure] budget at the start of the year," she wrote. "Now that oil is back in the $40s, will some companies take this as an opportunity to increase capex (i.e., put more rigs to work)?"
Murphy Oil shares dropped 1.85 percent Wednesday to close at $32.81 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company released its financial results after markets closed.
The company will hold a conference call today at noon to discuss its earnings. The call can be accessed online at: http://ir.murphyoilcorp.com.
A Section on 05/05/2016
*CORRECTION: Enbridge Inc. is the parent company of Enbridge G&P Limited Partnership. The parent company was misidentified in this story about Murphy Oil earnings.