BP will be axing 7,700 jobs from its workforce as part of major cost cutting plans.
The oil and gas giant will be cutting 4,700 jobs across its global workforce alongside 3,000 contractor roles. BP has not confirmed how many UK jobs will be affected by the move, although the number is currently around 5% of its 90,000-strong global workforce. BP has about 14,000 UK workers, with around 6,000 of those based in petrol and service stations, and will not be affected by the cuts.
BP sent a letter to staff today about the job cuts. BP boss Murray Auchincloss told workers on Thursday: “We began a multi-year programme to simplify and focus BP last year—strengthening our competitiveness and building resilience as we lower our costs, drive performance improvement, and play to our distinctive capabilities.
“We have got more we need to do through this year, next year and beyond, but we are making strong progress as we position BP to grow as a simpler, more focused, higher-value company. I understand and recognise the uncertainty this brings for everyone whose job may be at risk, and also the effect it can have on colleagues and teams.”
Auchincloss added that the job losses announced on Thursday “account for much of the anticipated reduction this year”. He also noted that around 2,600 of the contractors involved in the job cuts have already left the business. He continued that the company is still “uniquely positioned to grow value through the energy transition. But that doesn’t give us an automatic right to win. We have to keep improving our competitiveness and moving at the pace of our customers and society.”
The cuts come after BP launched a plan last year to reduce its costs by at least two billion US dollars (£1.6billion) by the end of 2026. It also comes two days after BP warned that weaker oil and gas production would affect its fourth-quarter results for 2024. According to a Bloomberg report, the company has stopped or paused 30 projects since last June to focus on the ones that make the most money. Alongside this, one of its “key” plans was to digitalise further, which will see artificial intelligence (AI) pushed across more departments, including engineering and marketing.
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