Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) , the world’s biggest oilfield-services company, tackled the “uncertain environment” of plummeting crude prices head-on by cutting 9,000 jobs and lowering costs at a vessels unit. The 7.1 percent workforce cutback, along with the reduction and reassessment of its WesternGeco fleet, were among steps leading to a $1.77 billion fourth-quarter charge in anticipation of lower spending by customers in 2015, the Houston- and Paris-based company said in an earnings report Thursday. Energy companies, coping with oil worth less than half its price six months ago, are expected to cut spending in the U.S. by as much as 35 percent this year, according to Cowen & Co. The number of onshore U.S. rigs could fall by as much as 750 this year, Wells Fargo & Co . said in a note Wednesday. That would be a 43 percent decline from the 1,744 in operation at the start […]