BP to axe 4,000 jobs
12 Jan 2016 by Rob Smith
Oil and gas firm BP has announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs globally throughout its exploration and production business.
The announcement comes in the wake of low oil prices, which have crashed to around $31 per barrel this week.
It expected that some 600 North Sea workers will lose their jobs by 2017.
The cuts were announced in Aberdeen yesterday and form part of BP’s plan to reduce staff numbers.
A spokesperson at BP told Process Engineering: "Overall, at a segment level we are planning an upstream organisation with a workforce of below 20,000 peoples."
BP North Sea regional president Mark Thomas said: “Given the well-documented challenges of operating in this maturing region and in toughening market conditions, we need to take specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust.”
Thomas said the majority of North Sea job cuts would take place this year.
“We are speaking to our staff and agency contractor management and will work with those affected over the coming months,” he said.
Despite the cuts, Thomas said BP remains committed to the North Sea.
"For example, in 2016, we are continuing to invest around $2 billion (£1.3bn) of capital into North Sea projects and a further $2 billion in running our North Sea operations."
However, since oil prices began tumbling, job cuts have been a common theme throughout the oil and gas industry.
Indeed, during July last year Shell announced plans to slash 6,500 jobs by the end of 2015.
The company also said it would reduce capital spending by 20% in 2015, amid a 37% fall in Q2 profits that year.
