Weatherford International Plc became the latest energy company to announce job cuts from falling crude prices as the oilfield-services industry bears the brunt of slashed spending plans. “We’re now confronted with an unusually severe market contraction and concurrently a once-in-a-lifetime industry change,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Duroc-Danner told analysts and investors on a conference call Thursday. “It is much easier to make efficiency leaps than in a strong market. This is the one silver lining to the violent downturn in oil in our market.” Weatherford will cut 8,000 workers in the first half of the year. When added to 6,000 firings from last year, the Geneva-based company’s total workforce will shrink 25 percent from the start of 2014, Chief Financial Officer Krishna Shivram said on the call. Weatherford’s announcement brings the number of job cuts among oilfield-services companies to 25,000, with more promised. The industry, […]