After Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) said it would cut 9,000 positions globally and Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) said it would cut 7,000, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was forced to cut more deeply.

A Halliburton spokeswoman on Feb. 10 said that the company anticipates it will lay off 6.5% to 8% of its global headcount of about 80,000. That figure doesn’t include the company’s workforce reduction of about 1,000 employees announced in December. The employees affected then worked in HAL’s Eastern Hemisphere regions, and the layoffs were effective immediately.

At a maximum of 8%, the company would lose about 6,400 employees.

“We value every employee we have, but unfortunately we are faced with the difficult reality that reductions are necessary to work through this challenging market environment,” said Emily Mir, director of public relations. “The impact will be across all areas of Halliburton’s operations.”

The company operates in 80 countries.

Mir said no layoffs have occurred or are presently planned as a result of the pending Baker Hughes acquisition. During the fourth quarter of 2014, Halliburton spent $19 million related to the acquisition, $17 million of which was recorded as “corporate and other expense,” and $2 million for “interest expense, net.”

Halliburton has a conference call set for April 20 to discuss its first-quarter 2015 financial results.

In November, Halliburton announced a $34.6 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes. The deal was the second-largest announced in 2014 and is expected to close in the second half of 2015.

“The drop in oil prices since the announcement may affect the deal’s closing, but that remains to be seen,” a report by McGraw Hill Financial said.

Halliburton reported income from continuing operations of $1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, excluding restructuring charges of $90 million after-tax. That compared to $1 billion income from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2014, excluding Macondo-related items.

So far, most exploration and production companies have cut capex, but some have announced cuts to staff.

Laredo Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: LPI) said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it is initiating a company-wide reorganization that includes an immediate reduction of about 75 employees.

Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) said in January it would eliminate about 5%, or less than 200, of its total global workforce of 5,000.

More recently, on Feb. 2, Lucas Energy Inc. (NYSE MKT: LEI) said it had defaulted on its debt and was weighing options. On Feb. 4, Victory Energy Corp. (OTC: VYEY) came to the rescue, saying the companies have entered a proposed business combination.

The Austin, Texas-based companies executed a letter of intent and term sheet for the proposed combination.

The companies expect that the business combination will involve the issuance of equity by Lucas to Victory's shareholders with no cash payment being made.