Helmerich & Payne (HP -13.2%) says it has laid off 2,800 workers across the U.S. and decommissioned 37 rigs, the result of the record oil bust caused by the Saudi-Russian price war and the coronavirus pandemic.

The company started this year with 8,500 employees around the world and 299 drilling rigs deployed in the U.S., but "we've seen 115 rig release notifications since early March," CFO Mark Smith said on today's earnings conference call. "We expected to end the third quarter below 70 rigs."

H&P reported a Q1 GAAP loss of $420.5M vs. a $60.9M profit in the prior-year quarter, as revenues fell 12% Y/Y to $633.6M; it wrote down the value of $563M in assets, which included 37 drilling rigs from the field and decommissioning them.

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