Oil giant Shell to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide in response to Covid pandemic

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said it plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs worldwide following a collapse in demand for oil following the coronavirus pandemic.

The oil giant has said the cuts will be fully implemented by the end of 2022.

The company also told investors that this includes around 1,500 employees who have agreed to take voluntary redundancy this year.

Shell said the job cuts are part of a major cost-cutting programme after the business was hit by the slump in demand for oil and a subsequent dive in prices.

Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, said: “We have to be a simpler, more streamlined, more competitive organisation that is more nimble and able to respond to customers.

“To be more nimble, we have to remove a certain amount of organisational complexity.”

He said the company is looking at a raft of other areas where it can cut costs, such as travel, its use of contractors and virtual working.

Mr Van Beurden said the pandemic has shown the company it can adapt to working in new ways but stressed that “a large part of the cost saving for Shell will come from having fewer people”.

In June, rival BP said it was cutting around 10,000 jobs from its workforce to cope with the impact of the virus.

Shell said it expects that cost-cutting measures will secure annual cost savings of between two billion dollars and 2.5 billion dollars (£1.5 billion-£1.9 billion) by 2022.

This will also partially contribute to a previously announced reduction in the company’s operating costs by three billion dollars to four billion dollars (£2.3 billion-£3.1 billion) by the first quarter of 2021.

Shell also told investors on Wednesday that it expects third-quarter production to be between 2.15 million and 2.25 million barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Daily production levels have been impacted by between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels due to hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.