The world’s largest oilfield services provider, Schlumberger ( NYSE:SLB ), reported on Friday a second straight quarterly loss on the back of a dramatic revenue slump in U.S. shale and asset impairment charges in what “has probably been the most challenging quarter in past decades,” as CEO Olivier Le Peuch said. The company also announced it would get rid of 21,000 jobs as oil producers rein in spending. Schlumberger reported on Friday a net loss of US$3.434 billion for the second quarter, after a US$7.376-billion loss for Q1 , which was the result of a US$8.5-billion impairment charge. As a result of the market conditions, Schlumberger recorded US$3.7 billion of pretax restructuring and asset impairment charges in the second quarter, including US$1 billion of severance costs associated with the massive workforce reduction. Schlumberger’s total revenues slumped by 28 percent quarter on quarter and by 35 percent year on year, […]