EL DORADO, Ark. — In a statement released Wednesday, Murphy Oil announced they would be closing their headquarters in El Dorado that employed 80 people.
The company listed the "extraordinary drop in crude oil prices," for the closure not only here in Arkansas, but another office in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which employed approximately 110 employees, the statement said.
Houston will be the new location of Murphy Oil's headquarters, where an existing office had already been located.
“Over the past several months, we have taken several actions to significantly reduce costs, including cutting this year’s capital expenditures by approximately 50 percent, or $700 million, lowering the company’s dividend by 50 percent, or $76.5 million on an annualized basis, and lowering executive officers’ salaries on average 22 percent, with the chief executive officer’s reduced by 35 percent," Chairman of the Board Claiborne Deming said in the statement.
"We simply do not have a choice and came to this decision only after exhausting all other cost-saving measures."
Deming went on to note that the El Dorado closure is "particularly painful and difficult," due to the company being founded in the city by C. H. Murphy Jr.