Justin Bieber Highlights Oil Pain

Justin Bieber, one of the world’s best-selling music artists, has highlighted the pain of oil industry layoffs in his latest music video, which was released last Friday.

Bieber’s latest song, titled Holy, shows the musician donned in coveralls and a hardhat next to a field of pumpjack oil rigs. At the midway point of his new release, Bieber, along with several of his colleagues, is told his site must close, which results in several job losses. Bieber and his partner are later shown to be homeless and wandering the streets before they are picked up by a U.S. military man for a hot meal.

#HOLY #MOVIE https://t.co/ISmNd4bIbR

— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) September 18, 2020

The video echoes the real world to some degree, as thousands of oil and gas professionals in the United States have lost their jobs over the past few months.

Just a few days ago, the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association’s (PESA) monthly oilfield services (OFS) and equipment employment report showed total U.S. job losses due to pandemic-related demand destruction reached 103,420 in August. According to PESA’s analysis, the following states have lost 4,000 or more OFS jobs each in 2020:

• Texas - 59,000
• Louisiana - 10,200
• Oklahoma - 9,200
• Colorado - 5,000
• New Mexico - 4,500
• California - 4,500
• Pennsylvania - 4,400

Back in July this year, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners (TIPRO) Association’s mid-year energy report showed that Texas alone had lost over 39,000 direct oil and natural gas jobs in the first half (1H) of 2020. According to the report, 321,455 Texans were directly employed by the industry in 1H. This was said to represent a decrease of approximately 39,514 net jobs over the previous year. 

Oil and gas sector job losses have also taken place in several other countries over the past few months, including the UK, Canada and Australia, to name a few.

As of September 22, CEST 3.13pm, there have been 6.7 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S., with 198,363 deaths, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). Globally, there have been 31.1 million confirmed cases with 962,613 deaths, as of September 22, WHO statistics show.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com