Tens of Thousands Are Getting Laid Off in U.S. Shale Patch

  • Halliburton deals biggest blow so far with 3,500 furloughs
  • The financial mess could permanently sink parts of an industry

     

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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One of the most painful busts in the history of crude oil happened just six years ago when a sharp price drop cost 200,000 roughnecks, almost half the entire workforce, their jobs.

And now, the spread of the coronavirus coupled with an oil-price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia threatens to devastate the oil services industry and its workers once again.