The sharp drop in oil consumption due to containment measures and the health crisis continues to take its toll in the petroleum industry. After the American Chevron, which planned in April the departure of 6,000 employees, the British group BP announced, Monday, June 8, that it would cut 10,000 jobs worldwide, about 15% of its workforce.
The group’s new chief executive, Bernard Looney, who took office just before the crisis, said most of these departures would take place before the end of the year. Two thousand jobs are expected to be lost in the UK, where the group employs 15,000 people. “These are difficult decisions to make”, said the boss in an email to employees. “But we have to do what’s good for BP” and “It will help us to be more efficient”, he added, before ensuring: “This will create a faster and more competitive business for the majority of us who will stay. “
The group management specifies that the abolished positions will be mainly office positions, not operational functions. In April, BP had already announced – like most major oil majors – its desire to massively reduce its investments in oil exploration and production.
The oil market has been facing an unprecedented double crisis since the start of March: the sharp fall in world demand has been accompanied by a price war between some of the largest producing countries, Saudi Arabia and Russia. The price of a barrel knew, in April, extremely low levels: the barrel of Brent, which refers to the world level, was found around 15 dollars at the end of April, when the prices of the American market even went in negative during a few hours, faced with the fear that the storage facilities could no longer absorb production.
“The price of oil has plunged well below the level necessary for us to make a profit. We spend much, much more than we earn – I’m talking about millions of dollars every day. ”said Looney.
“Social carnage”
Before the crisis, the CEO of BP had presented a transformation plan which planned to reduce the size of the group and make it progressively less dependent on fossil fuels. Like other European oil companies, BP has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 – without detailing how it intends to achieve this goal.
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