Royal Dutch Shell has indicated that it will soon throw 6,500 out of jobs as a way of stepping up spending cuts, to deal with an extended period of lower oil prices.
The Anglo-Dutch company also said that it is planning more asset disposals, bringing total asset sales between 2014 and 2018 to $50 billion.
“We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery,’’ Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden said.
Shell said it anticipated 6,500 staff and direct contractor reductions in 2015 from a total of nearly 100,000 employees. Lower oil prices have contributed to a 37 per cent drop in the oil and gas group’s second-quarter profits. And the group said it would reduce 2015 capital investment for the second time this year to $30 billion (by 20 per cent) from a year ago.
Big oil companies have cut 2015 spending by 10 to 15 per cent from 2014, to cope with a halving of oil prices over the past year to below $55 a barrel. Rivals BP and Total also announced further cuts this week.
Meanwhile President of the Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN), Dr. Austin Nweke has said that more workers will lose their jobs in the Nigerian oil and gas sector as the full impact of continued drop in oil prices comes to bear on the industry.
Nweke said the highly technical workers such as geologists, engineers and others have lost their jobs, adding that those in maintenance and security may lose their jobs if there is no improvement in the sector.
He said that the recession in the global oil market has worsened the problems of oil companies operating in Nigeria, with resultant effects on their employees adding that outsourcing companies are owed by their clients due to the bad economy, and many of them are not ready to compound their woes. [myad]
