BP says it will make 3,000 staff and contractors redundant from its Downstream segment by the end of 2017, in addition to the 4,000 staff that will be lost from its Upstream division this year.
The oil major announced the Upstream cuts in January, which include 600 jobs from its operations in the North Sea, equivalent to 20% of BP’s headcount in the region. Its total number of Upstream employees worldwide is expected to fall below 20,000 by the end of this year.
But the staff reductions will hit BP’s bottom line. The company says its has incurred $1.5bn in restructuring charges over the past five quarters, which it expects to rise to $2.5bn by the end of 2016, according to BP’s 4Q and full-year 2015 financial results today.
BP’s Downstream segment posted an underlying pre-tax replacement cost profit $1.2bn for the fourth quarter 2015, “the same as that reported for 4Q 2014, with benefits from ongoing simplification programmes being offset by a weaker supply and trading result”.
