British oil giant BP announced on Thursday its plan to cut 4,700 internal jobs and 3,000 positions at its subcontractors to reduce costs.
These measures are part of "a multi-year programme to simplify and refocus BP" aimed at enhancing competitiveness "by cutting costs," the company said in a statement.
The 4,700 internal job cuts "represent a large portion of the reductions planned this year," indicating that more announcements will likely come in 2025.
"I understand and acknowledge the uncertainty this creates for those whose jobs may be at risk, as well as the impact on colleagues and teams," wrote the group's CEO, Murray Auchinclos, in a letter to employees seen by AFP. "We have a wide range of support available" for displaced employees, he added.
BP, which employs 87,800 people across 61 countries, announced poorer-than-expected results for 2024.
In October, the group reported a sharp drop in third-quarter profit to $206 million from $4.9 billion a year earlier, impacted by lower refining margins, poor sales, and asset write-downs in a context of falling prices.
On Tuesday, the company also warned of an expected decline in oil production in the last quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, cautioning about "weaker" refining margins.
For months, investors have speculated about the company's potential reversal on some of its ambitious climate targets, including the promise to cut oil production by 25% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
The news comes in the wake of a year of mass layoffs. Jobs losses as a result of bankruptcy reached a record high: more than 27,000 people lost their jobs in Belgium. This week, Tupperware filed bankruptcy for its Belgian sites. Some 270 people are at risk of losing their jobs.
