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To: Charles A. King who wrote (10447)	3/1/1999 7:38:00 AM
From: Charles A. King	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13091

Laid-Off Oil Workers Seek New Jobs By Andrew Kelly HOUSTON (Reuters) - Weary of the oil industry's relentless cycle of boom and bust, workers hit by a recent wave of layoffs are now looking for greener pastures. While overall employment continues to expand in the United States, oil companies smarting from the lowest oil prices in 12 years have laid off tens of thousands of workers. Jobs have been axed throughout the country, but as always when times get tough in the energy business, the Texas oil capital of Houston has been taking it on the chin. Workers spared in previous rounds of downsizing but who were not so fortunate this time said they hoped to find new jobs in more stable, growth-oriented industries. ''I want to get out of the oil business...It's just too much of an emotional roller-coaster,'' said Phil Money, a 42-year-old mechanical drafter who was laid off by oilfield services firm Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL - news) in December. Money worked for almost eight years with Halliburton in Houston helping to make design adjustments to oilwell tools. Since losing his job just before Christmas, he has been scouring the Internet and newspapers and talking to recruiters about jobs, but so far he has had only one interview. Some experts say the industry may be shooting itself in the foot by laying off so many people because it could experience a severe shortage of skilled workers when markets recover. Companies could find themselves in the same situation they faced less than two years ago when business was booming and they were frantically hiring all the specialized help they could find, said Ken Miller of energy consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc. ''It's hard to get experienced people. That's the problem. We've been through this before and I think it's a mistake to cut too deep,'' Miller said. As weak oil prices persist, big job cuts have become routine. Thursday, Shell Oil Co. said it would cut up to 300 more jobs in its U.S. exploration and production business, bringing the announced cuts at the unit to more than 1,000. Government statistics show that over the last year the number of jobs in the U.S. oil and gas extraction industry fell by over 38,000 while over 20,000 jobs were lost in oilfield services. Interviews with workers who have lost their jobs showed a strong desire to move on to other industries. Mark Mroz, a 36-year-old Michigan native, was laid off in January by the newly merged BP Amoco Plc oil giant after spending eight years with Amoco in Houston. Mroz, a father of three young children and his family's only wage-earner, provided data management services for an oil exploration team but now views oil as a sunset industry and wants a job in software development. ''You go through phases. You're angry that you've spent a good portion of your career here, but then you're happy that you can move on to something better,'' he said. Some laid-off workers are even turning down jobs in the oil industry in hopes of finding work in another area. ''It's just a depressed industry and I'm not sure I want to get back into that, frankly,'' said Rod Kelly, 39, who holds a degree in petroleum engineering. Kelly, who was laid off by Halliburton in September, said he has had several job interviews to date and has actually turned down two offers of work in oil-related jobs. In Washington, Doug Johnson said losing his job as a lobbyist for Amoco had given him an opportunity to do something he had always wanted to do: teach. He is planning to return with his wife and teenage kids to his native North Dakota where he will go back to college to obtain his high school teaching diploma. Johnson, a lawyer by training, said that as a teacher he expected to earn a fraction of his six-figure annual income at Amoco, but that with the blow somewhat cushioned by his severance package, he was pleased to be pursuing an old dream. ''I'm 46 years old. When you get to be my age, if you're ever going to do anything different with your life, you've got to do it sooner rather than later,'' he said. dailynews.yahoo.com Charles