As oil companies cut costs amid slumping energy prices, they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s oil bust, when mass layoffs left the industry ill-prepared for the eventual rebound. The lack of a clear consensus on how long the slump will last has presented the industry with a difficult choice. Companies can lay off workers and risk being understaffed if prices recover quickly, or bear the cost of employing more workers than needed during what could be a prolonged period of slow activity and lower revenues. A few of the largest oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., have large cash reserves after years of high oil prices, but most smaller companies spent heavily during the boom years and are now scrambling to cut back. Some companies have announced layoffs. Houston-based oil major ConocoPhillips last week began laying off more than 1,000 employees in Alaska and elsewhere. Schlumberger Ltd., the world's largest oilfield-services company by revenue and market value, is laying off about 5,000 employees world-wide, about 6% of its work force, while Halliburton Co. is cutting an unspecified number of jobs. But so far companies have avoided the mass layoffs seen in the 1980s, when a glut of oil drove prices below $12 a barrel and tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs. They are especially keen to hang on to engineers and geologists, who were in short supply during the boom years. Exxon Mobil and Chevron continue to move mammoth projects forward. "What you're hearing is caution, and some effort to be optimistic," said Diana Hoover, an employment lawyer with Houston-based law firm Mayer Brown, who has oil-industry clients. The 1980s energy bust decimated the industry's work force, leaving companies without the experience and expertise they needed when prices rose and work picked up again. Most of the layoff victims left the business for good, while the industry's boom-bust reputation scared away potential recruits. The result: a "lost generation" of oil workers whose absence has been felt well into the 21st century. "It really came back to bite them," said Abby Foster, a human-resources consultant with Deloitte Consulting. Industry executives say they have learned their lesson. Lawrence Pope, executive vice president for administration at Halliburton, said when recruitment and retraining costs are taken into account, layoffs can actually prove more costly than retaining workers. "Our driving focus here will be to work hard to try to minimize the personnel reductions, as opposed to past practice when that was almost the first thing we did," he said. Schlumberger Chief Executive Andrew Gould said his company is willing to make sacrifices in order to hold on to valued workers. "We're happy to lower prices, but we want to keep our people busy because we don't want to lose them," Mr. Gould said. Ms. Hoover, the employment lawyer, said some companies are still quietly making cuts. "The vast majority [of energy companies] are going through restructurings even though they may not be as public about them," she said. Companies see the slowdown as an opportunity to cut low-performing workers, Alex Preston, president of The Energists, a Houston headhunting firm, said. But companies said they are reluctant to stop hiring altogether. Mr. Gould said Schlumberger is working to maintain its contacts on university campuses even as it hires fewer graduates. "You talk to faculty all the way through the downturn. They understand economics, but what they hate is when you come to campus, you do a big song and dance, you hire a bunch of people and then you disappear for five years," Mr. Gould said. John Richels, president of Devon Energy Corp., said the company is maintaining the internship program it developed to recruit new engineers and geologists.

Total announces that its subsidiary Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI), operator of the OML 130 block, has started production from its Akpo deep water development ahead of the planned start-up date. With proved and probable reserves estimated at 620 millions barrels of condensate (around 50° API), and more than 1 tera cubic feet (tcf)* of gas, Akpo is one of the largest deep offshore projects ever undertaken and will be the largest brought on stream in 2009.This start-up provides further evidence of the Group's capacity to meet the technology challenges of deep offshore, an area in which Total's track record is already ranked among world leaders. The ramp up of production to 175,000 barrels per day of condensate and 320 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) gas plateau is expected to be reached during summer 2009. Akpo will allow the commercialization of significant quantities of gas, which are exported towards the Amenam hub, enhancing Total's capacity to supply gas to the domestic market and to the NLNG liquefaction plant. "This early start-up for Akpo demonstrates the dedication of the teams involved in delivering such a complex, yet technologically sound project", declared Yves-Louis Darricarrère, President Exploration and Production. "This development will bring additional hydrocarbon resources whilst contributing to the development of local communities." TUPNI has a 24% interest alongside the OML 130 partners: NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation), Sapetro (South Atlantic Petroleum) of Nigeria, CNOOC Ltd. of China and Petrobras of Brazil. The field, discovered in the year 2000, is located 200 kilometers from the Nigerian coastline in water depth ranging from 1,200 to 1,400 meters.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Saturday it had awarded a contract for the Karan gas field to J.Ray McDermott, which is wholly-owned by U.S. engineering and construction firm McDermott International Inc . The turnkey contract provides for the manufacture and installation of four platforms and the construction of a 110-km-long (68 miles) undersea pipeline to carry the gas from the Karan field, Aramco said in a statement.It did not disclose the value of the contract. The gas from Karan will be processed at the onshore Khursaniyah gas plant with start-up production scheduled for mid-2011, Aramco said. Karan will produce 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, and will process about 1.8 billion cubic feet per day. Aramco has awarded onshore contracts for the project to Britain-based Petrofac Ltd and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co Ltd, Aramco has said. The cost of the Karan project was reported to have fallen by at least 20 percent from previous estimates that pegged it as high as $5 billion. Falling gas supply amid growing power demand in the kingdom has seen the world's top oil exporter lock in long term purchase contracts for utility fuel totalling around 10 million barrels so far.

Crude oil futures jumped to a two-month high as a militant attack on a Nigerian oil pipeline sharpened supply concerns while the market weighs the prospects of another OPEC production cut. But while crude eyes another run at $50 a barrel, persistent worries about oil demand could make it tough to hold onto such gains. Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled up $1.55, or 3.4%, at $47.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Jan. 6. April Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled 72 cents lower at $44.13 a barrel. Crude prices continued the momentum from last week's rally, marking an intraday high just short of $49 a barrel, as traders considered another output cut when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna Sunday. This could support oil prices all week, strengthened further by the cartel's better-than-expected compliance with previously agreed cuts. However, oil demand, which remains weak, continues to stymie efforts to push higher. "OPEC is having an effect but the equity markets are a big driver," said Kyle Cooper, director of research at IAF Advisors in Houston. "I think we're going to be very constrained for a while - holding above $50 a barrel is going to be really tough." OPEC's compliance with reductions totaling 4.2 million stand at around 80%-85%, according to the group's Secretary General Abdalla Salem El Badri, just above analyst estimates. El Badri and other members have hinted at the possibility of further cuts, though OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia has remained characteristically quiet. The market got a further boost earlier Monday after Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) was forced to halt deliveries from the Forcados export terminal following a recent militant attack on a Nigerian oil pipeline. The attack disrupted around 50,000 to 100,000 barrels a day of production, a Nigerian oil official said, and Shell expects the stoppage to last through April. The Anglo-Dutch major now has four force majeures in place in Nigeria, Shell spokesman Rainer Winzenried said. The declaration protects Shell from lawsuits for not meeting oil deliveries to customers due to actions outside the company's control. Nymex crude also extended its premium to Brent, restoring the normal balance that was knocked out of whack recently by soaring oil stockpiles at Nymex delivery point Cushing, Okla. "Inventory levels in Cushing haven't changed all that much, but there's a perception that they're pretty close to full and aren't building anymore," said Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc. in New York. He noted that the premium that the Nymex May crude commands over the April contract - a phenomenon known as contango - has also narrowed considerably. "There's the expectations that once the refineries come back out of maintenance, that'll cut into future supplies, but nothing's fundamentally changed," Bentz said. "But the perceptions are sometimes more important." Front-month April reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, settled 29 points, or 0.2%, higher at $1.3351 a gallon. April heating oil settled 1.4 cents lower at $1.2154 a gallon.