More than two dozen local employees of a Texas-based oil field services company will be let go next month amid the continuing slowdown in Kern County crude production.
Schlumberger, also known as SLB, informed county authorities in a letter released Wednesday that it plans to layoff 28 people at its 6120 Snow Road operation come Oct. 29.
Nine of the employees are equipment operators. The rest range from supervisors to bulk plant operators and maintenance mechanics.
The announcement came as oil permitting in the state has all but halted, partly the result of the Newsom administration's continuing phase-out of in-state petroleum production. The county has tried to do its own permitting, but its ordinance for streamlining the process has been held up by a yearslong environmental challenge.
The slowdown is having effects that extend beyond job losses. In June, the county blamed permitting hold-ups for a projected 25%, year-over-year drop in tax revenue from petroleum properties in Kern.
Schlumberger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.