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East Oregonian
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
As oil plunges, energy companies cut jobs
other businesses that rely
heavily on fuel, some 95,000
jobs were lost in the energy
LONDON — The world’s sector by U.S.-based compa-
biggest oil companies are nies in 2015, according to the
slashing jobs and backing FRQVXOWLQJ ¿UP &KDOOHQJHU
off major investments as the Gray & Christmas. That
price of crude falls to new was up from 14,000 the year
lows — and there may be before.
Energy
companies
more pain to come.
Companies like BP, which expanded as oil topped $100
said Tuesday it is cutting a barrel in 2008 and stayed
4,000 jobs, are slimming there during the early part of
down to cope with the slump this decade, but prices have
in oil, whose price has plum- plunged over the past two
meted to its lowest level in years because of high supply
12 years and is not expected and weakening demand
The start of a new year
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months, possibly years. hasn’t helped matters, with
California-based
Chevron Brent crude, the benchmark
said last fall that it would for internationally produced
eliminate 7,000 jobs, while oil, slipping below $31 a
rival Shell announced 6,500 barrel on Tuesday, a drop of
about 20 percent drop since
layoffs.
And it’s not even the big Jan. 1 and the lowest since
producers that will be affected 2004.
With
some
analysts
most, but the numerous
companies that do business forecasting a drop near $10 a
with them, such as drilling barrel, companies are bracing
contractors and equipment for more trouble.
“Calling the bottom in a
suppliers.
While plummeting oil market is always a dangerous
prices have been great news practice, akin to catching a
for motorists, airlines and falling knife,” said Michael
By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
Hewson, chief market analyst
at CMC Markets. “But
when the clamor for lower
prices becomes a stampede,
warning signs and alarm
bells tend to start going off,
which suggests that a more
prudent approach might be
advisable.”
The uncertainty is making
companies
think
twice
before sinking money into
new oil projects. That’s a
problem, since even the most
modest project requires vast
commitments of resources
over a number of years. If
the industry doesn’t invest in
production, that could create
supply problems down the
line.
On the North Sea, “there is
a standstill in the new project
launches which may create a
hole in the pipeline of proj-
ects next year,” said Florent
Maisonneuve,
managing
director and co-head of Oil &
Gas at AlixPartners in Paris.
Weakening demand in
China, the world’s second-
largest energy consumer,
has helped drive the price
down. So has a stronger U.S.
dollar, which makes oil more
expensive for buyers outside
the United States.
Members of OPEC,
meanwhile, are refusing to
cut back on production for
fear of losing their share of
the market to non-members
like the U.S. and Russia. And
OPEC states Iran and Iraq,
whose industries have been
off line for years because of
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looking to start pumping
more.
All this means prices are
unlikely to bounce back soon.
“The companies are doing
the best they can to survive
as long as they can,” said
Spencer Welch, an oil expert
at analysis group IHS. “We
don’t see a quick out.”
In the United States, the
Energy Department said
Tuesday that it expects U.S.
crude to average $38.54 a
barrel in 2016. Fadel Gheit,
an analyst at Oppenheimer
& Co., said as many as half
of the independent drilling
companies working in U.S.
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before prices stabilize.
CTE: Will upgrade facilities in Heppner, Boardman and Irrigon
Continued from 1A
hands-on experience in two
priority areas: industrial and
engineering systems and
hospitality/tourism manage-
ment,” an IMESD press
release states. “Preliminary
plans include converting
the gym into a professional
quality kitchen with a desig-
nated dining area to host
local business meetings and
other catered events, and the
remodeling of several class-
rooms to be used as lab space
for the engineering, robotics
and SUAS (small unmanned
aircraft systems) classes.”
Pendleton CTE Coordi-
nator Curt Thompson said
the district was planning
on expanding the program
regardless of whether they
received the grant or not, but
the grant will make it much
easier to obtain needed equip-
ment for the center before it
opens in January 2017.
The grant funding will
help purchase new kitchen
equipment for the culinary
program, a new 3-D printer
and milling machine to make
prototypes for the robotics
program, as well as platforms
and other support equipment
for the UAS program.
The CTE grant will also
pay for a contract employee
who will help students get the
opportunity to shadow people
DOUHDG\ ZRUNLQJ WKH ¿HOG DV
well as land internships and
mentorships, and bring profes-
sionals to Pendleton schools
to share their expertise.
With those duties expected
to get easier once they’re
LEHNERT: Hermiston police
detective Robert Guerrero has
agreed to work as undersheriff
water police in 2005 until
leaving as a sergeant in
services, such as mental 2014 for Hermiston.
health, substance abuse and
“I think his personality
veteran’s programs.
and mine mesh well
“Those can be better together, and we have
redirected to assist persons common goals,” Lehnert
we frequently see or deal said.
with,” Lehnert said.
Voters
only
elect
Lehnert also asserted as a sheriff, but picking
sheriff he would be more Guerrero could help draw
available to the public and support from both Pend-
other law enforcement and leton and Hermiston.
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Lehnert’s latest assign-
needs to be more trans- ment is policing Pilot Rock.
parent in its operations. The small town struck a
The agency provides civil, deal last year to pay nearby
dispatch and jail services Pendleton to provide 40
that other public safety rely hours of services a week
on, he said, so input from while it tries to hire another
those other agencies is RI¿FHU DQG D FKLHI 3LORW
“critical.”
Rock residents have praised
Hermiston
police Lehnert’s capabilities, and
detective Robert Guerrero Pendleton police Chief
has agreed to work as Stuart Roberts told the Pilot
Lehnert’s
undersheriff, Rock City Council that
should Lehnert win. The /HKQHUW KDV WKH TXDOL¿FD-
two have known each other tions to be a police chief.
professionally for a number
If he were closer to
of years, Lehnert said, and retirement, Lehnert said,
Guerrero has experience as he might have applied for
a criminal investigator and the Pilot Rock job. He
police administrator.
said even as a deputy he
Guerrero started in eyed police command, so
1999 as a reserve with the working as sheriff would be
Milton-Freewater Police a natural progression.
Department and worked in
Election Day is May 17.
the Umatilla County Jail, If multiple candidates run
according to Hermiston for the position, one would
police. The Umatilla Tribal have to get 50 percent of
Police Department hired the vote in order to win
him in 2001. He then outright. If not, there would
worked for Milton-Free- be a runoff in November.
Continued from 1A
Mexico investigating Guzman
meeting, not actors involved
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Senior Russell Pryor watches from a control room while operating a plasma cutter
Monday in the metal shop at Pendleton High School.
established, Thompson said
the district is only budgeting
the position for one year and
will reevaluate after that.
Although no new build-
ings are planned, the Morrow
County School District
plans to upgrade its existing
facilities at its high schools
in Heppner, Boardman and
Irrigon.
The press release states
the grant will be focused on
upgrading infrastructure and
equipment for its welding
and manufacturing labs, two
¿HOGV WKDW DUH LQ GHPDQG DW
the Port of Morrow, Morrow
County Superintendent Dirk
Dirksen said.
Dirksen said the grant
award was the result of a
successful
collaboration
between the school district,
the IMESD, Port of Morrow
and Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College, which plans to
build a workforce training
center in Boardman.
Almost all the CTE
programs in Umatilla and
Morrow County are coordi-
nated through the InterMoun-
tain CTE Consortium, an arm
of the IMESD.
IMESD CTE Cooradinator
Jennifer Pambrun said funding
for local CTE programs has
atrophied in recent years.
The roughly $300,000 the
IMESD receives annually
from the federal government
pays for programs at BMCC
and the 12 school districts that
comprise the consortium.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
MEXICO CITY (AP)
² 0H[LFDQ RI¿FLDOV DUH
investigating the meeting
that then-fugitive drug lord
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman
held with actor Sean Penn
and actress Kate del Castillo
in October to see if any
crimes were committed.
But
government
spokesman Eduardo Sanchez
said late Tuesday that it is the
possibility of illegal acts,
UDWKHU WKDQ VSHFL¿F SHRSOH
that authorities in Mexico are
looking into.
“We investigate actions,
we
don’t
investigate
people,” he said. “The
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investigating this event and
others involving contacts
that Joaquin Guzman had
while he was on the run.”
Carlos Barragan y Salvat-
ierra, a professor of law at
Mexico’s National Univer-
sity, said there would be little
ground to prosecute Penn or
Del Castillo, unless money
or gifts changed hands.
Asked about scrutiny of
his controversial meeting
with the fugitive drug lord
at a hideout in rural Mexico,
Penn on Monday would
only say: “I’ve got nothin’ to
hide.”
COLLEGE FUNDING 101
REFUGE: Group tore down stretch of fence Monday
Continued from 1A
The Hammonds’ case set
off the occupation, but they
have distanced themselves
from the activists.
Federal, state and local law
enforcement are monitoring
the occupation but have not
WDNHQ DFWLRQ 2I¿FLDOV ZLWK
the Harney County Joint
Information Center declined
to comment because of the
ongoing investigation.
The group tore down
a stretch of govern-
ment-erected fence near the
refuge Monday to give a
local rancher access to the
range. The armed men also
have accessed government
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At a community meeting
that hundreds attended
that night, Harney County
residents repeatedly asked
the group to leave. They
included a Burns High
School freshman, who got
a standing ovation from the
crowd.
“And I just want them to
go home so I can feel safe
and I can feel like it is home
again,” 15-year-old Ashlie
Presley said with tears in her
eyes, referring to the armed
men. “I shouldn’t have to
be scared in my own home-
town.”
But some residents also
said they share the activists’
frustration with the federal
government — though they
don’t agree with their tactics.
That same frustration was
also at the heart of a message
about the refuge occupation
ATTEND A FREE SEMINAR TO LEARN
HOW TO PAY FOR COLLEGE
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Members of the FBI stand guard at the Burns
Municipal Airport, Sunday in Burns.
delivered by Republican
Oregon Congressman Greg
Walden on the U.S. House
ÀRRU ODVW ZHHN 7KH VSHHFK
by Walden, whose district
includes Harney County, has
gone viral online.
Walden told the AP on
Monday that while he does
not condone the occupa-
tion, the armed men “have
elevated the knowledge of
frustration people feel in this
high desert county.”
Walden said that frus-
tration stems from constant
pressure by environmental
groups who want to leave
public land untouched and
from the arrogance exhibited
by some federal government
bureaucrats who don’t follow
the law and disregard the
opinions of residents in the
rural region.
“Western culture, it’s
being threatened,” Walden
said.
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WHEN:
WHEN:
Saturday, January 16, 2016 11:00 a.m.
WHERE:
WHERE:
The Community Room at City Hall
500 S.W. Dorion Street, Pendleton
Hosted by the State of Oregon
RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY at OregonCollegeSavings.com
.
Refreshments will be served.
Happy 5 th th Birthday, Brody!
Hip, hop hooray and
happy 5 th th birthday!
You are getting so
big and we are so
proud of you!
Love, Grandpa and
Grandma Powell
COLLEGE SAVINGS PLAN
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OregonCollegeSavings.com
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College Savings Plan. Please visit OregonCollegeSavings.com for a Plan Disclosure Booklet with
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