OSLO: Norwegian energy firm Statoil may cut more than 10 percent of its workforce to reduce costs and could announce the layoffs in May, business daily Dagens Naeringsliv said.
The cuts, which could affect 20 percent of its 12,000 engineering and technical staff or about 2,400 workers, will primarily be made in well drilling but could also impact maintenance and modification, the paper said without naming its sources.
The cuts would be part of Statoil’s technical efficiency programme announced in February, which targets a $1.7 billion annual cost reduction.
Statoil employed 22,500 workers at the end of 2014 with 19,700 of its workers based in Norway.
A Statoil spokesman said it was too early to discuss the specifics of the layoffs.
“The impact this will have on possible redundancies will not be clear until we get closer to summer,” Jannik Lindbaek told Reuters. “This is part of the STEP (Statoil Technical Efficiency Programme) that was announced in February.”
