Laid off Alaska oil workers eligible for extra benefits

by The Associated Press

Some oil industry workers who have been laid off are in line for additional benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor has determined.

Former employees for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Doyon Drilling, Parker Drilling and Halliburton Energy Services have been certified by the agency to receive the extra jobless benefits.

Those benefits include additional weeks of unemployment insurance payments, relocation assistance and job retraining, and are being made available under provisions of Trade Act of 1974.

The action was taken because increased imports of crude petroleum are thought to have contributed to the decline in U.S. oil exploration and drilling activity.

The act gives the Labor Department discretion to roll out such benefits for workers who lose jobs to imports.

Applications from other Alaska oil service firms, including Nabors Alaska Drilling and VECO, remain under review by the agency, said Ted Burke, Trade Act coordinator for the state’s labor department.