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Offshore Contractor Saipem to Cut 8,800 Staff After Unexpected Loss

(Bloomberg) — Saipem SpA, Italy’s biggest oil and gas contractor, will cut jobs and exit businesses as writedowns led to an unexpected loss and an earnings target reduction. The company, controlled by Italian oil producer Eni SpA, posted a second-quarter net loss of 997 million euros ($1.1 billion), after total writedowns of assets for 929 million euros. Analysts were expecting a 39.1 million-euro profit. “The further steep fall in the oil price has resulted in a major disruption, which is not likely to be reversed in the short-to-medium term,” Chief Executive Officer Stefano Cao, who replaced Umberto Vergine in April, said in a statement. This “has resulted in clients taking an increasingly rigid approach in the operational and commercial management of contracts.” Saipem expects a loss before interest and taxes of 450 million euros in 2015, compared with a previous forecast of as much as 700 million euros in profit. That marks at least the third time the company lowered its guidance since 2013 and comes after PJSC Gazprom canceled a $2.2 billion Black Sea project earlier this month.