News / BP to shed some Sullom Voe office jobs
A SMALL number of office jobs at BP’s Sullom Voe oil terminal are likely to go next summer following Thursday’s announcements of redundancies, the oil company has confirmed.
BP North Sea said they would be shedding 300 jobs across the North Sea region this year as part of a long term restructuring programme.
However Shetland remains a key part of the company’s strategic plan for the future, with £7 billion investments in the north Atlantic proceeding as planned, along with the gas sweetening project at Sullom Voe.
Meanwhile Shetland gas plant operators Total say they will continue their plans to start production later this year without job losses.
A BP spokeswoman said on Thursday that “a pretty small number” of office support posts in Shetland would be affected by the cuts, but she could not say how many.
On Thursday morning BP said they were shedding 200 onshore staff, predominantly in Aberdeen, and 100 offshore contractor posts.
The news comes as the UK and Scottish governments attend a summit in Aberdeen to discuss the crisis in the oil industry after the price of crude has fallen by more than half in the past few weeks.
However the oil price drop is just one part of the reason for the BP job cuts.
The company has recently sold off several assets, including Europe’s largest onshore oil field at Wytch farm, in Dorset, and the Harding oil field in the central North Sea and is now “matching onshore to what we have done offshore”.
The spokeswoman added: “We started this process a long time before the oil price went down as far as it is right now.”
In a bid to avoid compulsory redundancies, the company is inviting staff to put themselves forward for voluntary severance packages.
They also plan to cut back on recruitment.
BP North Sea’s regional president Trevor Garlick said: “We are committed to the North Sea and see a long term future for our business here.
“However, given the well-documented challenges of operating in this maturing region and in toughening market conditions, we are taking specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust, and we are aligning with the wider industry.
“Whilst our primary focus will be on improving efficiencies and on simplifying the way we work, an inevitable outcome of this will be an impact on headcount and we expect a reduction of around 200 onshore staff and 100 contractor roles.
“We have spoken to staff and will work with those affected over the coming months.”
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