BP to axe 4,700 jobs: £70bn company announces redundancies cost-cutting drive

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BP has announced it will be cutting 4,700 jobs across its global workforce in a cost-cutting drive.

Oil and gas giant BP has announced it will be cutting 4,700 jobs across its global workforce as well as 3,000 contractor roles as part of its cost-cutting drive. The company, reported to be worth £70 billion, did not disclose how many people were affected per country, but the reductions amount to just over 5% of its 90,000 worldwide employees.

BP has about 14,000 UK workers with around 6,000 of those based in petrol and service stations who it is said will not be affected by the cuts. Chief executive Murray Auchincloss announced the redundancies in an email to staff on Thursday (January 16).

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He wrote: “I understand and recognise the uncertainty this brings for everyone whose job may be at risk, and also the effect it can have on colleagues and teams. We have a range of support available, and please continue to show care for each other, be considerate, and keep putting safety first — especially during times of change.”

BP said the cuts were part of a multi-year plan to make savings across the business, and that there may be more reductions this year and beyond.

BP to axe 4,700 jobs: £70bn company announces redundancies cost-cutting driveBP to axe 4,700 jobs: £70bn company announces redundancies cost-cutting drive
BP to axe 4,700 jobs: £70bn company announces redundancies cost-cutting drive | Nicholas.T.Ansell/PA Wire

The reductions come as the London-based energy giant tries to bring more digital capabilities into the business, with artificial intelligence increasingly playing a role in engineering and marketing operations. It has also pulled back from a number of renewable energy projects, and abandoned a previous plan to cut oil and gas output by 40% by 2030, according to reports.

Mr Auchincloss added that the job losses announced on Thursday “account for much of the anticipated reduction this year”. He said the company is “focusing resources on our highest-value opportunities” and that it has stopped or paused 30 projects since June 2024.

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In April last year, Mr Auchincloss announced a plan to make savings of two billion dollars (£1.6 billion) by the end of 2026. The plan is designed partly to reinvigorate the company’s flagging share price, which has fallen about 20% since last spring.

Mr Auchincloss continued that the company is still “uniquely positioned to grow value through the energy transition”. “But that doesn’t give us an automatic right to win. We have to keep improving our competitiveness and moving at the pace of our customers and society,” he added.

Mr Auchincloss’s memo said that about 2,600 of the contractors involved in the job cuts have already left the business.

It comes days after BP delayed an investor event due to be held in New York to allow the CEO to recover after a medical procedure as it signalled weaker end-of-year trading. Its scheduled capital markets event that was due on February 11 in New York has been delayed until February 26 and will take place in London “to ensure his full recuperation”.

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