BP reportedly to make global job cuts mandatory

UK-headquartered oil and gas major BP is reportedly set to make 7,500 ‘compulsory redundancies’ after roughly 2,500 employees applied for voluntary severance.

News agency Reuters produced the figures citing an internal company memo and other BP sources.

Most of the job cuts will come from office-based staff in BP’s ‘oil and gas exploration and production’ division.

The news agency quoted BP as stating: “We are continuing to make progress towards fully defining our new organisation… We expect the process to complete and for all staff to know their positions in the coming months.”

The frontline production facilities will not be impacted with the layoffs.

Reuters cited the memo as stating: “This means around a quarter of the headcount reduction that Bernard outlined in June, will be voluntary.

“We know that for some people for various reasons they feel that now is the right time for them to leave BP, but for many it will still have been a difficult decision.”

In June, BP announced that it would release 15% of its current staff, impacting nearly 10,000 jobs. The company employs around 70,100 people worldwide.

The job cuts come as downturn due to the Covid-19 crisis caused oil prices to slump.

In April, BP planned to cut capital spending by 25% to $12bn this year in the wake of the oil price crash triggered by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Earlier this month, ExxonMobil announced plans to reduce workforce levels across a number of its affiliates in Europe as part of the company’s worldwide review of its operations.