Type
Internal restructuring
Country
United Kingdom
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Mining / Quarrying
Mining And Quarrying
Extraction Of Crude Petroleum And Natural Gas
06 - Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas

2,000 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
8 June 2020
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date
31 December 2020

Description

BP, the UK-based multinational oil and gas company has announced plans to cut approximately 2,000 jobs in the UK by the end of 2020, with senior office-based roles, such as group leaders expected to be most affected. The job cuts are part of a 15 per cent global reduction of BP’s workforce.

In an email addressed to employees the company’s chief executive said the redundancies were necessary to compensate for the reduction in profits, caused by sharp fall in demand for oil and the subsequent drop in oil prices precipitated by the COVID-19 crisis. Industry experts have commented that the current drop in demand for oil is part of a longer-term negative trend.

Representatives of the RMT union have called the restructuring plans 'catastrophic' and criticised BP for proposing large scale redundancies to save costs only a few weeks after paying dividends to its shareholders.

BP has operations in nearly 80 countries worldwide and it employs over 70,000 people, including 15,000 people in the UK.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2020), BP, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 101095, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/101095.