Statoil confirms major cuts in headcount – Offshore.no

Between 1,100 and 1,500 permanent employees will lose their job in Statoil by the end of 2016.

It confirms Statoil Tuesday.

In addition, Statoil will reduce the number of consultants with a further 525.

The estimate for the staffing reductions reflect the potential for efficiency improvements in STEP and other organizational improvements the next 18 months, the company said In a message.

Last week it leaked out in the press that 1,500 permanent employees and 500 contractors lost their jobs. Now go therefore Statoil with information.

– We regret the need for further reductions, but the improvements required to strengthen Statoil’s competitiveness and secure our future value creation, says Anders Opedal, senior vice president for operations ( COO) in Statoil.

Simplification of work processes, clear responsibilities and to facilitate future growth opportunities are normative for Statoil’s improvement.

Further changes in the business areas to realize the full potential of the improvement program, will be presented by the end of the month.

– Decisions about staffing reductions due to efficiency will be taken in each business based on assessments involving managers and union representatives, and local discussion. Once this is complete, we know how accurately the current estimate is. This work will take place in the business areas in the period from August to November, said personnel director Magne Hovden in Statoil.

Statoil improvement and strong prioritization of investments was initiated in late 2013 to meet industry challenges related to cost and competitiveness, in time for the fall in oil prices.

Since the end of 2013, the workforce has been reduced by 1 340 permanent employees and 995 external consultants. Reductions have been achieved through the more limited use of consultants, natural attrition, internal redeployment to new positions, severance pay and early retirement.

The recruitment during the period was very limited, but the company has continued its efforts to recruit apprentices and graduates.

– We have so far solved redundancies through voluntary arrangements, and our goal is still the staffing process the nearly 18 months to be implemented on a voluntary basis, says Hovden.

The implementation of the company’s improvement agenda continues coming weeks and months. The changes and initiatives from STEP adopted after consultation with employee representatives, and these will now be handed over to the business areas for implementation.

Statoil has undertaken to achieve annual savings of $ 1.7 billion through improvement program in 2016, and later.