Energy company BP will cut about 15 per cent of its global workforce in response to the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported on Monday.
The move is part of chief executive Bernard Looney’s plan to shift the oil and gas company to renewable energy.
Looney told employees in a global online call that BP will cut 10,000 jobs from the workforce of 70,100.
“We will now begin a process that will see close to 10,000 people leaving BP – most by the end of this year,” Looney said in a statement.
The job cuts will mostly impact senior office-based positions and not front-line operational staff, the company said.
About a fifth of the cuts will take place in Britain, where 15,000 people are employed, a spokesperson told Reuters.
BP cut its 2020 spending plans after the coronavirus pandemic brought an unprecedented drop in demand for oil.
The company flagged a 25 per cent cut to $12 billion this year and said it would find $2.5 billion in cost savings by the end of 2021 through the digitalisation and integration of its businesses.
However, Looney said the company is likely to need to cut costs even further.
There will be no pay rises to senior employees until March 2021 and the company said it is unlikely to pay any cash bonuses this year.
