Statoil to lose up to 2,000 more jobs after oil-price collapse

[OSLO] Statoil ASA, Norway's state-controlled oil producer, will cut as many as 2,000 more jobs by the end of next year as it adjusts to lower crude prices by slashing costs.

Statoil plans to lose 1,100 to 1,500 permanent employees and about 525 consultants by the end of 2016, the Stavanger- based company said in a statement on its website. It will announce more organisational changes by the end of the month.

"We regret the need for further reductions but the improvements are necessary to strengthen Statoil's competitiveness and secure our future value creation," Anders Opedal, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in the statement. The company has already cut more than 2,300 employees and consultants since the end of 2013.

The job losses at Statoil, Norway's No. 1 oil and gas producer, add to thousands more in the country's offshore energy industry after crude collapsed in the second half of 2014. Western Europe's largest oil-producing nation is bracing for the biggest cuts to offshore investments in 15 years.

Statoil, 67 per cent-owned by the government, began a sweeping efficiency program at the end of 2013 to contain costs that had risen for a decade. It expects the program to yield savings of US$1.7 billion a year starting in 2016.

Tuesday's statement confirmed reports in daily newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv. Bloomberg News reported a year ago that the company was working on deeper cost reductions than announced, including a 20 percent cut in technical staff.

Statoil is cutting capital spending by 10 percent to about $18 billion this year, maintaining its dividend.

BLOOMBERG