Tenaris lays off approximately 100 employees

Tenaris confirmed Friday to the CN that it has permanently laid off approximately 100 employees at the Hickman facility.

Tenaris Media Relations Specialist Carolina Mendoza said, "Tenaris values their people and their contributions. This was certainly a very difficult decision...[but] it was due to the prolonged economic downturn."

A Tenaris press release said that the "adjustments are due to the price of oil, which hit a 12-year low, and the continued reduction of drilling activity. The number of active rigs in the U.S. is currently close to 650, down more than 60 percent since the onset of the industry downturn. Compounding the situation are excess inventories, created in part by ongoing imports of unfairly traded OCTG [oil country tubular goods]."

Mississippi County Economic Developer Clif Chitwood said: "It's unfortunate but it is in the nature of their business that they have cyclical downturns...both the county and the state are ready to support Tenaris in any way they can...when they start to ramp back up, before anything can be done, certainly every company must align themselves along with sales in order to just stay in business. Tenaris is a great company and it's a great company for Mississippi County."

The company's release also said Tenaris will "continue to monitor market conditions" and will "align its workforce and production levels as needed. Tenaris is committed to U.S. manufacturing, moving forward with strategic investment plans to better position the company for sustainable growth in the future."

Tenaris produces steel pipe products and related services for the energy industry. Their customers include most of the world's leading oil and gas companies.

"I don't think anyone thought of what the consequences of finding too much oil would be. We were told for so long that we were going to run out of oil, but obviously that's just not true. Now the pipe industry is facing what the American farmers did with falling commodity prices, it's unfortunate. It's also another reason why you never stop trying to recruit new kinds of jobs," Chitwood added.

thenry@blythevillecourier.com