IRVING, Texas — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Layoffs are coming at Exxon Mobil Corp. after the oil and gas giant closed its $59.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. in May.
Spring-based Exxon Mobil informed the Texas Workforce Commission it will lay off 59 employees on Sept. 30, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification dated July 31. The majority of the layoffs, 39, will occur in the former Pioneer Natural Resources headquarters in Las Colinas. The remainder will be in Big Lake and Midland.
Here's a full breakdown of the layoffs:
- Big Lake - 1921 U.S.. Highway 67, Big Lake (two employees)
- Las Colinas - 777 Hidden Ridge, Irving (39 employees)
- Midland downtown office - 3617 N. Big Spring St., Midland (one employee)
- Midland - 2011 N. County Road 1140 (seven employees)
- Midland - 4815 E. Highway 80 (10 employees)
Exxon Mobil offered transition roles to some employees, while others declined offers to join the company, according to the notice.
"Our employment strategy has not changed — the success of this merger depends heavily on the retention of Pioneer's talented workforce, and more than 1,500 Pioneer employees were offered jobs as part of the merger," Jared Young, public and government affairs manager for Exxon Mobil, said in the letter to the state.
The layoffs come after Exxon Mobil closed its largest deal since acquiring Mobil in 1999. The deal was also the largest deal in the history of the U.S. shale upstream sector and had major ramifications for Texas' oil and gas sector, including locally in Dallas-Fort Worth where the region suffered the rare loss of a local public company headquarters.
Pioneer reported 2023 revenue of nearly $19.4 billion. At the end of last year, it employed 2,213, including 933 in field operations.
Exxon Mobil closed the massive deal one day after the Federal Trade Commission agreed to approve it as long as Scott Sheffield, the founding CEO of Pioneer, was barred from joining Exxon’s board of directors or serving in any advisory capacity. Sheffield had stepped down at the end of 2023.
The FTC’s decision also prevents Exxon from nominating or appointing any Pioneer employee or director to its board, except for certain named individuals, for five years.
