Halliburton has made “adjustments” to its workforce in Arbroath based on current business conditions.
A spokesman for the US company responded to reports that 10 employees were being made redundant after a similar number of temporary workers were released.
He said the company will continue to monitor the business environment and “make additional adjustments to the cost structure of our business as needed.”
The US-owned oil and gas drilling services company is cutting its global workforce by more than 5,000 as a result of the oil price collapse.
Halliburton has warned that the impact will be felt across all operations, including the North Sea.
The Elliot Industrial Estate factory employs more than 200 people. Fears first spread in February that some of them would lose their jobs.
A small number of mainly temporary employees were told they were no longer required, and permanent members of staff hoped the departures would limit any job cuts.
A Halliburton employee, who declined to be identified, said factory manager Archie Forster had just announced that 10 employees would be made redundant.
“This was bad news, and was made worse by him saying the 10 people involved will be told on Friday,” the employee stated.
“The mood in the workforce is very low. People here will be struggling to sleep with the worry that they will be going in tomorrow to find they are losing their jobs.”
The company had already altered the factory shift pattern to reduce overtime payments. He added: “It now looks like the step wasn’t enough, and there will be redundancies.”
When asked on April 8 about any impact on Arbroath jobs from the low oil price, a company spokeswoman told The Courier: “Details on specific businesses are competitively sensitive and not available.”
Halliburton’s income from continuing operations in the first quarter of this year was down 33% at $418 million, and adjusted operating income was 28% less at $699m.
Chairman Dave Lesar said the challenging commodity price environment prompted customers to lower activity levels and seek price concessions.
“As evident by the restructuring charges taken during the quarter, we are taking steps to help mitigate the ongoing impact,” he explained.