BP PLC has recently told its workforce of plans to further reduce staff in its global upstream oil and natural gas segment by yearend 2017.
In an e-mail reply to OGJ, a spokesman for BP’s US business segment said BP is planning an upstream organization at a segment level with a workforce of less than 20,000 people. “To reach this level,” he said, “we will need to reduce our current workforce of BP employees and agency contractors by at least 4,000 additional people.”
The cuts are “to simplify [BP’s] business, improve efficiency, and reduce costs without, of course, compromising safety, which remains our No. 1 priority,” the spokesman said.
The company would not be providing a running commentary on any other specific numbers or a breakout of headcount reductions for specific regions, the spokesman said.