The move comes as the company seeks to lower commodity pricing and reduce the exploration and production spending in 2015, the company said in an earnings report.

Schlumberger chief executive officer Paal Kibsgaard said: "In this uncertain environment, we continue to focus on what we can control.

"We have already taken a number of actions to restructure and resize our organization that has led us to record a number of charges in the fourth quarter.

"We are convinced that performance must now be driven by an accelerated change in the way we work through our transformation program."

Last month, Schlumberger had announced its plan to take a $1bn charge related to jobs cuts and the writedown of some seismic vessels, reports Bloomberg.