BP accelerating plans to cut hundreds of jobsDecember 8, 2014 - 09:29 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil giant BP is accelerating plans to cut hundreds of jobs within its back-office departments - many of them based in the UK and U.S., BBC News reports. The company, which has been downsizing since the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, said it had long planned the cuts, but is speeding up the process due to falling oil prices. Crude prices have fallen by almost 40% this year, reducing oil firms' margins. BP employs almost 84,000 people worldwide, and some 15,000 in the UK. In the U.S., the firm employs 20,000 people, many of whom are based in Texas. "The fall in oil prices has added to the importance of making the organization more efficient," a BP spokesman told the BBC, "and the right size for the smaller portfolio we now have". The Sunday Times newspaper quoted BP's finance director, Brian Gilvary, as saying "headcounts are starting to come down across all our activities". He added that the cuts would apply to "essentially the layers above operations". In the UK, BP has offices in London, Milton Keynes, Subury on Thames and Aberdeen, among other places. In October, BP reported its third quarter replacement cost profits - which strip out volatility in oil prices - were $2.4bn, down from $3.2bn in the same period last year. The company, which says it is a third smaller than it was in 2010, is also still settling claims related to the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As of September, compensation costs had reached $20bn, BP said. The company will outline details of the planned job cuts on Wednesday, Dec 10. Related links: Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Pashinyan visits flood-hit region Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, June 8 visited the disaster area in the Lori province. €3.5 mln EU grant to support justice reforms in Armenia The European Union has paid €3.5 mln grant to Armenia within a €11mln program on Support to Justice Reforms. Yerevan reacts to Baku’s proposal to see Minsk Group abolition Alen Simonyan has declared that Armenia is taking steps aimed at concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. |