Skeptical investors, lackluster oil prices and the broad slowdown in drilling activity buffeted the Houston energy sector again Monday as oil field services companies cut more jobs and one exploration and production company’s stock fell near its lowest level since the beginning of the century.

The developments were the latest in recent struggles of the oil and gas industry, which has sliced some 6,000 jobs in Texas since the spring and pulled more than 270 drilling rigs — a 25 percent decline — from operation in U.S. oil and gas fields since the beginning of the year. Energy companies are cutting spending, as well as jobs, as oil prices remain mired in the $50-to-$60 a barrel range, profits fall and share prices plunge.

Apache Corp. led Monday’s bad news when its stock plummeted more than 12 percent near its lowest level since 2001 after reporting vague results from its exploratory well off the coast of the South American country of Suriname, a prospect considered vital to the Houston oil and gas company’s future growth. That was followed by disclosures that Houston oil field services company National Oilwell Varco would suspend operations at its Galena Park plant and lay off 85 workers and oil field services giant Halliburton would close an office in El Reno, Okla. and lay off 800 workers.

On HoustonChronicle.com: U.S. shale sector shrinking to survive

Andy Lipow, an energy analyst and president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, said the outlook for the energy sector, while not as dire as it was during the last oil bust, is stll rough and getting worse. In a world awash in oil amid a weakening global economy, the situation for crude prices would be disastrous if not for U.S. sanctions keeping Iranian and Venezuelan oil off the market and OPEC’s production cuts.

The cartel and its allies meet later this week to consider whether to extend or even deepen those cuts — a decision with significant implications for oil prices and the energy industry that drives the Houston economy. Oil prices rose about 1 percent to settle at $55.96 a barrel in New York on modest hopes that OPEC will opt for deeper production cuts.

“Oil producers aren’t making much of any money,” Lipow said. “There’s still going to be tough times ahead in 2020.”

Hotly anticipated

Apache’s tough times have already started. The company, which employs about 900 in Houston and 3,400 worldwide, lost more than $1 billion in stock market value in one morning after it said it would continue drilling its first test well in Suriname to greater depths, rather than announcing positive results for the hotly anticipated prospect offshore of the tiny nation on the northeast coast of South America.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Apache at a crossroads

Apache’s stock plunged more than 14 percent during intraday trading, ultimately closing down more than 12 percent at $19.54 a share.

The Suriname prospect is considered Apache’s premier exploration project for future crude oil production. In Suriname, Apache is hoping to replicate Exxon Mobil’s success in finding oil off the coast of neighboring Guyana. Apache has pointed out that it is drilling just seven miles from the Guyana maritime border.

Apache insists it isn’t pinning all of its hopes on Suriname, but the development of the offshore oil field represents a crossroads for the company, following the abrupt departure of its exploration chief in October, mounting financial losses and declining activity in its heavily-touted Alpine High discovery in West Texas. Apache said it lost $170 million in the third quarter, following a $360 million loss in the second.

“This is hardly the champagne cork moment that was potentially at play here,” energy analyst Paul Sankey of Mizuho Securities said of Suriname update.”But then again, nor is this firmly a dry hole.”

In the meantime, Apache recently announced it is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs and further centralizing its organization to save an extra $150 million per year. In addition, Apache plans to cut its 2020 capital spending by up to 20 percent — a cutback of as little as $250 million to as much as $500 million.

National Oilwell Varco, which like most oil field services company has suffered from the decline in drilling activity, is also cutting back. In a Nov. 22 letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, made public Monday, the company said it would cease operations at its Galena Park plant by Jan. 21, permanently laying off workers there.

Loss after loss

Located just outside Loop 610 and along the Houston Ship Channel, the Galena Park facility makes equipment for offshore and onshore drilling rigs. It is not clear if those operations would shift to another facility or if the company would discontinue that work. National Oilwell Varco did not respond to requests for comment.

National Oilwell Varco reported a $244 million loss during the third quarter, which followed a $5.4 billion loss in the second quarter. Earlier this year, the company enacted a voluntary early retirement plan designed to save $7 million. Executives estimate they can save $160 million a year by restructuring its workforce over the next year.

Halliburton, which reported that its third quarter profit fell by nearly half from a year earlier, has been cutting jobs since the second quarter of the year, stacking equipment and pulling hydraulic fracturing crews from the field as producers slow activity in U.S. shale plays, a market the Houston company dominates. Halliburton reduced 8 percent of its North American workforce during the second quarter and cut another 650 jobs in four western states in October.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Oil field services sector braces for more pain

In a letter filed with the Oklahoma Office of Workforce Development, Halliburton said that it plans to close its office in El Reno, Okla. about 30 miles of Oklahoma City. El Reno was home to a command center and several hydraulic fracturing crews.

Layoffs permanent

Out of the 808 employees expected to be laid off, the company's filing shows that more than one-third worked with acids used in the hydraulic fracturing process and nearly one-tenth performed cementing work for oil wells. "The layoff is expected to be a permanent employment loss," Michael Queener, a Halliburton vice president, wrote in the letter.

A spokeswoman for Halliburton did not have an immediate comment.

jordan.blum@chron.com

sergio.chapa@chron.com