UK oil firm BP has announced it is cutting 4,000 jobs globally, 600 of which will be lost from its North Sea operations.
It comes as profits continue to suffer as a result of a 70% collapse in oil prices leading to a big cutback in investment across the oil industry.
The North Sea job cuts are expected to take place over a two-year period.
BP said all the job losses would occur in its oil exploration and drilling business.
“We want to simplify structure and reduce costs without compromising safety. Globally, we expect the headcount in upstream to be below 20,000 by the end of the year,” a company spokesman said.
The job losses amount to around 5% of BP’s total global workforce of 80,000. BP currently employs around 3,000 people in the UK.
BP said it remained committed to the North Sea and would invest about $4bn (£2.7bn) there this year.
But in a statement, the oil firm said given the “challenges” of operating in the North Sea and in “toughening market conditions” it needed to “take specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust”.
