Originally Posted by
BimmerSooner
Having worked at CHK for a number of years, it's a bit bittersweet to hear of the name change. But, it happens and glad it appears to be working out for the current employees here and for OKC at large.
Southwestern operates in the Haynesville Shale, and in the Utica and Marcellus Shales of Appalachia. They currently have about 900-1,000 employees. I'm going to speculate that approximately 40% of the employees are in the field offices and there wouldn't be significant changes in those, but maybe an office merger or two. But that wouldn't affect OKC. Of the remaining "HQ" employees in Spring, TX (and anywhere else)--approximately 500-600 I would think--I would guess roughly half would be relocated to OKC. The press release very cleverly uses the term "material" to describe the presence to remain in Houston. What does "material" mean in real number terms...who knows? But it certainly does not commit to a remaining presence in Houston that is equal to what is there now. I think it is reasonable to speculate that OKC could gain, at most, 200-250 employees.
Of course, all of this said, there will likely be layoffs with this merger--both of CHK and of SWN employees. The cost-savings and synergies about which they speak normally include those associated with "right-sizing" the workforce, unfortunately.
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