In this week's news update, Noble Energy downsizes its Marcellus Shale branch, and a Canadian company defends its misunderstood advertisement.
An oilfield services company in Alberta is defending its billboard advertisement featuring a half-naked woman.
BeDevil Enterprises in Killam, Alberta, says they have received dozens of emails, social media messages and even a visit from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police over a billboard for its business featuring a track hoe, a screwpile, flames, a half-naked woman and the slogan “we drill them to hell and back.”
Posts on social media say the billboard promotes violence against women. The company, however, says the advertisement has nothing to do with belittling women.
“We do screw pilings and a lot of people, I guess, just don’t understand it,” says Dan McRae, an owner of the company, in an article in the Edmonton Sun. “The idea of the billboard is you can see the track hoe, the drivehead and the screwpile on it, and the woman lying on her back is a demon who’s asleep in hell and what we’re doing is we’re just showing everybody that we will work like bastards to get the job done.”
The RCMP has told the company that its advertisement “is not pornography and is less revealing than a Victoria Secret’s billboard.”
The company has no plans to take down the billboard.
Noble Energy Cutting Staff in Marcellus Shale
Noble Energy Corp. announced Nov. 10 that it is cutting 45 positions in the Marcellus Shale and 180 jobs companywide as it narrows its focus on the most profitable areas and preserving long-term opportunities.
The Texas-based company says it will keep 130 employees in Pennsylvania. Noble is not drilling any new wells in the state and likely won’t in 2016.
After the layoffs, Noble will have 2,400 employees across its onshore and international operations. This is the second round of job cuts for the company this year. In April, Noble cut about 10 percent of its workforce.
Comments