Irving Oil to lay off 6% of its workforce due to Covid-19 crisis

Canadian oil and natural gas company Irving Oil has announced plans to downsize 6% of its global workforce due to the economic fallout as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

This constitutes a layoff of about 250 staff in Canada, the US, the UK, and Ireland.

Irving Oil stated: “We have shared with our employees the difficult decision to significantly reduce our workforce in light of the current economic challenges we face.

“The challenges that we face in our business and our industry are unlike any we have ever experienced. Like many other organisations, we hoped to avoid this outcome as we worked hard to keep our business secure through the extreme challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Irving operates a refinery in Saint John city of New Brunswick in Canada, which it claims is the largest in the country. It also operates a refinery in Cork, Ireland.

In May this year, Irving Oil agreed to buy the North Atlantic Refining Corp, the owner of the Come-by-Chance refinery in Newfoundland, Canada for an undisclosed sum. This deal is yet to be completed.

In December 2016, Irving Oil signed into an agreement to acquire four inland storage facilities located in Nova Scotia from Valero Energy.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Shell is weighing the divestment of its 240,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Convent, Louisiana, in a bid to reshape its refining portfolio, reported Reuters.

Shell became the owner of the refinery in 2017 after when the firm and Aramco separated the assets of Motiva Enterprises.