US Frac Sand Supplier Cuts 10% of Workforce

Frac sand supplier U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. has cut 230 employees as it grapples with the current challenges in its energy markets.

The Katy, Texas-headquartered company made the announcement Friday.

The staffing reductions count for 10 percent of the company’s total workforce and includes corporate employees as well as the idling of mines in Utica, Illinois and Tyler, Texas. It will also impact Crane County in Texas, Sparta, Wisconsin and Festus, Missouri.

The job cuts in operations will reduce staffed oil and gas capacity by 7 million tons.

The company anticipates annual SG&A savings from the staff reductions as well as other cost reductions to total $20 million.

Severance costs related to the workforce reductions will be $1.7 million and incurred by U.S. Silica in the fourth quarter of 2019.

“The difficult decisions announced today are an important element of our plan to protect margins and generate free cash flow in an increasingly competitive oil and gas completions market,” CEO Bryan Shinn said in a company statement. “The actions taken realign our operational footprint and cost structure to more efficiently serve energy customers while simultaneously supporting the expected growth of our Industrials & Specialty Products segment.”

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