Feb 2, 2016 2 min read

Range Resources Corp. said Tuesday it is laying off 55 people across the company, including 31 from its operations in Washington County.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Range, a leading oil and gas exploration company in the Marcellus shale, blamed low prices for oil and natural gas for the staff reductions.

“Low commodity prices have created a harsh reality that everyone in our industry is facing,” said Chief Operating Officer Ray Walker in a statement.

“For Range, that has included difficult decisions, reflected by adjustments in our operations, reductions in capital spending, office closures, asset sales and staff reductions, including those announced today,” Walker said.

Range said the staff reductions announced Tuesday included 31 eliminated positions between its Southpointe office and its Independence field office in Chartiers Township, which is about 7 percent of its workforce. The other job cuts include 20 positions in Fort Worth, two in Williamsport and two in Oklahoma.

Range employs more than 700 people across the company, with the majority of those in Pennsylvania, and most of those in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Walker said the company is offering severance packages to those affected by the layoffs.

“We are taking these and other steps to position Range to weather the current commodity price environment until demand is projected to come more closely in line with supply and commodity prices rebound to more economically rational levels, which will hopefully result in the return of lost oil and gas jobs in the United States,” he said.

In addition to the 55 positions that were eliminated Tuesday, Range has cut 72 jobs in Pennsylvania over the past year as a result of a sharp decline in oil and natural gas prices that began at the end of 2014.