ExxonMobil expects to cut up to 500 Singapore employees by end-2027 as part of global restructuring
The company also plans to exit its HarbourFront office and move all employees to the newly expanded Jurong Refinery by 2027
[SINGAPORE] ExxonMobil announced an overhaul of its Singapore operations on Wednesday (Oct 1) that will result in up to 500 job losses, and the relocation of its corporate office from HarbourFront to its Jurong manufacturing site by the end of 2027.
The move, affecting 10 to 15 per cent of the company's 3,500-strong local workforce, is focused on reshaping its “primarily office-based organisation”, an ExxonMobil spokesperson in Singapore said in an e-mailed statement.
This decision comes after a wider global restructuring effort was announced by the energy giant, which includes a worldwide reduction of 2,000 jobs, particularly in Canada and across the European Union.
The reductions represent about 3 to 4 per cent of ExxonMobil’s global workforce and are part of the company’s ongoing efficiency drive, according to a report by Bloomberg. ExxonMobil employed 61,000 people globally at the end of 2024.
A company spokesperson positioned the restructuring as a necessary step to adapt to a rapidly changing business environment. “We are making changes to how we work so we can improve our competitiveness in an ever-evolving landscape and position the business for future success.”
While detailed plans are still being finalised, the company has confirmed the scale of the redundancies and pledged assistance for those affected. “We will provide the necessary support to our people,” it noted.
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Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) said in a statement following ExxonMobil’s announcement that it, along with Workforce Singapore and the NTUC Employment and Employability Institute, will “continue to work closely with ExxonMobil to support affected employees, including facilitating job placements”.
EDB added: “ExxonMobil will continue to maintain a significant business footprint here, including in manufacturing, (headquarters) and trading functions.”
Despite the job cuts, ExxonMobil retains a manufacturing presence in Singapore, as it continues to operate its two refining sites here: one at Pioneer Road on the mainland and the other on Jurong Island, with a combined crude processing capacity of 592,000 barrels per day, according to a report by Reuters.
The company plans to exit its HarbourFront office over the next few years, and aims to move all employees to its newly expanded facilities at the Jurong Refinery by the 2027 deadline.
“We’ve seen the value of bringing people together in the same location,” said the ExxonMobil spokesperson. “These changes are designed to improve our competitiveness, increase effectiveness and drive innovation.”
The spokesperson added that ExxonMobil has started up “new base stock production facilities in Singapore, which is a first-of-its-kind technology deployed at scale”.
“We continue to maintain our manufacturing presence in Singapore.”
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