Shell to cut 330 North Sea jobs

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has revealed plans to cut 330 jobs from its operations in the North Sea, most of them based in Aberdeen.

According to an article by the BBC, most of the posts are based at its office in Aberdeen and will be lost over the next two years.

The media outlet also stated that some of the jobs being lost would be linked to the project of decommissioning of the Brent Charlie platform, expected to be completed in the next two years. After the job cuts are complete, Shell will have a workforce of about 1,000 people in Aberdeen.

This announcement comes several months after Shell revealed that it would cut between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs in a push to save up to $2.5 billion by 2022. This includes around 1,500 people who have agreed to take voluntary redundancy.

At the time, the company stated that this would partially contribute to the announced underlying operating cost reduction of $3 to $4 billion by the first quarter of 2021.

It is worth noting that many oil companies are already having to rethink its future plans as part of the transition away from fossil fuels – Shell among them. The Covid impact and oil demand decrease simply accelerated this transition.

In early December, several clean energy executives left Shell over a disagreement on how far and fast the company should move towards greener energy.

The wave of resignations came just weeks before Shell was set to announce its strategy for the energy transition. The company said in April 2020 that it would become a net-zero emissions energy business by ‘2050 or sooner‘.

Some executives pushed for a more aggressive shift from oil but top management is opting to stick closer to the company’s current path.

Head of Shell’s solar, storage, and onshore wind businesses Marc van Gerven, a member of the company’s distributed energy division Eric Bradley, and Katherine Dixon – a leader in its energy transition strategy team all left the company in recent weeks. Dorine Bosman, Shell’s vice-president for offshore wind, is also due to leave the company.

Bad news from Shell continued in the days ahead when the company announced it would write down the value of oil and gas assets by $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion following a string of impairments this year as it adjusts to a weaker outlook.