London
BP is set to make around 7,500 compulsory redundancies after roughly 2,500 staff or just over one in ten of those eligible applied for voluntary severance, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters and company sources.
The oil major announced plans in June to lay off almost 15 percent its 70,000-strong workforce as part of chief executive Bernard Looney’s plan to cut costs and “reinvent” the business for a low carbon future.
Many layoffs will come from office-based staff, including BP’s core oil and gas exploration and production division, where thousands of engineers, geologists and scientists are set to leave. They will not affect frontline production facilities.
A BP spokesman confirmed the voluntary redundancy figure.
“We are continuing to make progress toward fully defining our new organization. We expect the process to complete and for all staff to know their positions in the coming months,” BP said in a statement.—AN
