ConocoPhillips, one of the largest U.S. shale producers, is cutting another 6% of its workforce.

The Houston-based company confirmed Thursday that it will lay off about 1,000 employees this year, mostly from North American energy jobs in the U.S. and Canada. The cuts were outlined in a town hall meeting with management Thursday.

In the past 18 months, ConocoPhillips in response to the downturn has slashed spending, including deferring certain oil-and-gas drilling projects and laying off thousands of workers since the summer of 2015.

"We have taken several steps as a company to adapt to lower and more volatile prices and strengthen our position coming out of the downturn," said Daren Beaudo, a spokesman for the company. "Over the past couple years, we've significantly reduced our capital activities and finished some major projects, which left us with more organizational capacity than we need."

Also this week, Royal Dutch Shell PLC laid off 190 offshore workers from its deepwater Gulf of Mexico operations, or roughly 25% of that division. The cuts were part of Shell's previously announced plan to trim 2,200 positions globally this year, said Kimberly Windon, a company spokeswoman.

"We are making these changes in order to remain competitive and better position Shell's Gulf of Mexico projects for future growth," she said.

Write to Lynn Cook at lynn.cook@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2016 19:05 ET (23:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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