The slashing of jobs is severe in the oil and gas industry globally as it costs 250,000 jobs this year so far. The rigging activity became standstill in many oil producing nations. It's estimated that job layoffs and postponement of projects may continue till 2017. Many oil companies have taken up restructuring exercise.

However, the refining activity is encouraging and it's generating some demand for workers.

The continuous fall of oil price has been taking a toll on the oil companies. Online industry news site The Oil and Gas named oilfield services major Schlumberger and Baker Huges to have cut 20,000 jobs while Shell and other oil companies trimmed their headcount by 7,000 or more individually. Over 1,100 rigs were put on hold since June 2014 contributing further to the slashing of jobs in rigging activity. 

Many oil projects were either postponed or cancelled owing to adverse conditions in the global market. This trend may continue until 2017, forecast analysts. Several oil companies are implementing restructuring plan and recover revenues if the downturn persists.  

Interestingly, although the upstream activity has been hit by low oil prices, the downstream is booming as refining activity is picking up. This is creating more demand for workers for the downstream activity. Refinery input rose by 94,000 barrels per day in March 2015. 

As narrated in an energy industry blog, Fuel Fix, data from energy recruiter Swift Worldwide Resources suggest the layoffs are expected to rise over 250,000 this year and may continue further in 2016 as well if oil price continues at the current level.

Tobias Read, Swift CEO, sees no sign of an immediate turnaround in the job market. "The current situation is likely to get worse," he said.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (Opec) decision to keep up the oil production despite price drop has triggered the crisis situation in the global oil and gas industry.

OPEC's decision led to oversupply in the global market. The US crude hit a low of $45 per barrel and hovering in the range of $48-52 a barrel. 

Many oil firms are continuing to slash jobs. During the past two months, Devon Energy and Marathon Oil Corp announced 400 job cuts. Superior Energy Services slashed 4,760 jobs. Canadian oil producer and refiner Husky Energy has trimmed the headcount by 1,400. Maersk Oil slashed 12 percent of jobs resulting 1,250 workers losing employment.

Oil experts opine that fundamentals are also not supporting an immediate recovery in the global oil industry.

This is giving broader scope for uncertainty about the future direction of oil prices. The Opec's decision to not to cut production, the economy slowdown in China, oversupply situation, sluggish European economy and shale production in North America are making the situation worse for the global oil industry.  

The global oil and gas industry witnessed similar situation of job cuts when oil prices tumbled during the 1980s. Post-crisis resulted in a shortage of mid-career professionals as fewer qualified replacements are available.