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The first well on Pad 2 at Consol Energy's Marcellus Shale extraction site at Pittsburgh International Airport during the groundbreaking ceremony in 2014.
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Consol Energy starts new round of layoffs, citing low fuel prices

Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette

Consol Energy starts new round of layoffs, citing low fuel prices

Consol Energy Inc. is eliminating about 470 positions throughout the company.

The Cecil-based firm confirmed that 290 cuts are coming from its natural gas and corporate divisions, and 180 from its coal division.

In April, Consol laid off about 165 employees from its gas and corporate departments, amounting to just more than 4 percent of its workforce.

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Last month, the company announced it would end retiree benefits for about 4,400 former employees by the end of this year. It had previously planned to phase those out by 2019.

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“These are very difficult but prudent decisions given the depressed nature of the commodity prices,” Consol spokesman Brian Aiello said of the latest round of job cuts. “We are taking aggressive action so that Consol can continue to operate from a position of strength through the downturn and quickly capitalize on the up-cycle when it occurs.”

Consol is not unique in the industry. About a dozen other natural gas and coal companies have announced layoffs in the past year, citing low fuel prices.

Earlier this month, Consol spun out its thermal coal division as a master limited partnership, CNX Coal. The IPO may have suffered from a bad coal market, but Consol wanted to move on the IPO launch, in part, to separate what it felt were undervalued gas assets from coal.

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Consol’s stock price has declined nearly 40 percent in the last two months, reaching a new low below $20 on Friday.

On Tuesday, the stock closed at $20.03, up 11 cents on the news of the layoffs.

The company plans to release its second quarter results on July 28.

Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.

First Published: July 14, 2015, 3:03 p.m.
Updated: July 15, 2015, 1:58 a.m.

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