wft industry oilfield services & equipment founded 1940s headquarters switzerland incorporation key people chairman & ceo bernard duroc danner products diversified oilfield services revenue 12.99 billion usd 2011 nyse wft operating income 1.32 billion usd 2011 net income 198.5 million usd 2011 number of employees 30 000 2016 61 000 2011 1 website weatherford.com weatherford is one of the largest international oil and natural gas service companies . the company provides products and services for drilling evaluation completion production and intervention of oil and natural gas wells along with pipeline construction and commissioning . headquartered in switzerland weatherford operates in more than 100 countries across the globe and employs more than 60 000 people . 2 contents 1 history 2 company focus 3 company layoffs 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was founded in 1941 in weatherford texas as the weatherford spring company by jesse e. hall sr. 3 4 in 1948 the company was renamed weatherford oil tool company wotco with ownership by jesse hall his son elmer james e. berry and juan a. perea . 5 from its inception the company pioneered an innovative technique and equipment for the cementing of cased hole oil wells . 5 originally marketed to u.s. well owners weatherford drilling and casing equipment was soon being used in the oil fields of venezuela by the gulf oil company . 5 in 1972 the separate company of energy ventures inc. was founded as an offshore gas and oil exploration and production company . 6 in 1987 energy ventures was liquidated and re established and by 1990 had acquired grant oil country tubular company . 7 in 1991 weatherford acquired petroleum equipment tools company petco . 7 weatherford and homco later merged operations to create weatherford services the largest oil fishing rental company in the world . in 1995 weatherford merged with enterra becoming weatherford enterra inc. 7 in may 1998 energy ventures since renamed evi inc. and weatherford enterra inc. merged creating the current company now known as weatherford . 7 8 in the next two years weatherford added a number of well organized brands to its expertise including dailey orwell energy rentals whiting williams bbl and ecd northwest . weatherford also created a stronger completion competence with the addition of well known brands in the sector such as petroline cardium nodeco mcallister johnson screens houston well screens arrow and cidra . in 2005 weatherford acquired precision drilling corporation s precision energy services and international contract drilling divisions . in july 2007 the company was featured in news media reports questioning operations of the company s foreign subsidiary weatherford oil tool middle east which had offices and equipment in the nation of sudan . 9 since 1997 u.s. companies were forbidden by law to operate in sudan though foreign subsidiaries of u.s. companies could still legally operate in that country if there was no involvement by the u.s. parent or any other u.s. person . 10 nevertheless in response to media and investor criticism the company announced that it would divest itself of any foreign subsidiary operations in countries sanctioned by the united states . 10 11 11 the next year weatherford withdrew from activities in sudan and donated its in country equipment as well as providing additional equipment supplies and funding to thirst no more a humanitarian organization operating in sudan . 12 13 in 2008 the company announced that it was shifting its place of incorporation from bermuda to switzerland . 14 that same year weatherford completed its acquisition of v tech international a pioneer in the development of mechanical power tong systems in the north sea to improve rig safety . 15 in may 2010 weatherford s leetsdale pennsylvania facility accidentally released a cloud of ammonium persulfate that resulted in the evacuation of 500 workers from the surrounding industrial park . 16 in april 2014 weatherford announced that its board of directors approved the relocation of its legal domicile to ireland from switzerland . the company will continue to maintain its operational office in houston texas . 17 company focus edit as an oil and natural gas drilling services company weatherford produces a variety of products and services for the oil and gas industry . these include drilling services electronic well measurement and monitoring completion production and evaluation products and services . in particular the company has developed directional drilling services that can extend through miles of bedrock with great precision and tubular running services that are used on almost half of the world s deepwater drilling projects . the company has more sand screen systems installed worldwide than any other company and production optimization systems in more than 100 000 wells around the world . additionally weatherford is the industry s only provider of all forms of artificial lift . weatherford also offers intervention completion and decommissioning services for well owners in addition to pipeline precommissioning commissioning operations and one of the world s most diverse fleets of inline inspection tools . 18 19 company layoffs edit since 2010 the company has been on an layoff spree . the world economy is changing . the major oil suppliers group has been dropping oil prices . the renewable energy such as solar and wind are getting cheaper . america had a lot of shale oil reserves which are sufficient to fulfill its domestic oil consumption . the major oil supplier groups are trying to retain their oil market internationally . this is beneficial for the consumers of oil including usa and india . weatherford is suffering as global number of new drilling of oil wells is dropping . the company is surviving by dropping expenses and layoffs to the tune of 30000 employees . the layoffs are done across all verticles and at all levels . as such vice presidents managers engineers officers field workers are layed off . many of these loyal employees have taken alternate profession or became consultants . some have taken retirement . it s major time for this company to invest into alternatives . the company also sold many of its industrial units such as chemical group and the wellhead group . see also edit switzerland portal houston portal companies portal list of oilfield service companies references edit company background weatherford annual report riversand company customers . retrieved 27 april 2010 . federal court of appeals jesse e. hall sr. and rhoda o. hall petitioners v. commissioner of internal revenue respondent 294 f. 2d 82 1961 a b c hall v. commissioner of internal revenue 294 f. 2d 82 1961 fundingunivers.com weatherford international company history . retrieved 27 april 2010 . a b c d fundingunivers.com weatherford international company history weatherford overview . weatherford international . june 6 2002 . retrieved 23 january 2010 . walt vivienne a texas company in sudan cnn money.com fortune 25 july 2007 . a b walt vivienne a texas company in sudan 25 july 2007 . a b walt vivienne 2007 09 12 . u.s. oil firm pulls out of sudan . cnn ; fortune 14 september 2007 . retrieved 15 october 2013 . laird kerry weatherford ending operations in iran cuba syria sudan with loss rigzone.com 18 march 2008 . walt vivienne weatherford makes amends in sudan cnnmoney.com fortune 14 may 2008 . weatherford planning to relocate base to switzerland . houston business journal . friday december 12 2008 . retrieved 23 january 2010 . anonymous field tested power tong handles all sizes of casing drillpipe tubing offshore 1 april 2008 . hazmat called to leetsdale chemical spill . wtae tv pittsburgh . may 27 2010 . retrieved on november 17 2015 . eaton collin . weatherford moving to ireland as swiss executive pay rules change . fuel fix . retrieved 14 april 2014 . weatherford international ltd. company focus . retrieved 27 april 2010 . weatherford international ltd. pipeline specialty services production precommissioning and commissioning . retrieved 27 april 2010 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to weatherford international . weatherford.com page digital corporate brochure weatherford slimline applications broadening the possibilities for their clients article v t e petroleum industry petroleum primary energy benchmarks argus sour bonny light brent dubai indonesian isthmus 34 light japan cocktail opec reference basket tapis urals western canadian select west texas intermediate data natural gas consumption production reserves imports exports price petroleum consumption production reserves imports exports price of gasoline and diesel exploration core sampling geophysics integrated asset modelling petroleum engineering reservoir simulation seismic to simulation petroleum geology petrophysics reflection seismology seismic inversion seismic source drilling blowout completion squeeze job differential sticking directional drilling geosteering drilling engineering drilling fluid invasion drill stem test lost circulation measurement tracers underbalanced drilling well logging production petroleum fiscal regime concessions production sharing agreements artificial lift pumpjack submersible pump esp gas lift downstream enhanced oil recovery eor steam injection gas reinjection midstream petroleum product pipeline transport refining upstream water injection well intervention xt history 1967 oil embargo 1973 oil crisis 1979 energy crisis 1980s oil glut 1990 oil price shock 2000s energy crisis 2010s oil glut founders history of the petroleum industry nationalization opec seven sisters standard oil oil market timelines provinces and fields list of natural gas fields list of oil fields east midlands oil province east texas gulf of mexico niger delta north sea persian gulf prudhoe bay oil field russia venezuela western canadian sedimentary basin other topics acronyms peak oil 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