[Craig Nigrelli]

British Petroleum, the U.K.-based oil and gasoline company, commonly known as BP, is cutting nearly five thousand jobs across the globe. Those numbers get even bigger when you factor in the corporation is also slashing three thousand contractors.

Last fall, BP announced that it had identified five hundred million dollars in cost-saving cuts this year as part of a larger plan to reduce spending by two billion dollars by the end of two thousand twenty-six.

The Associated Press obtained an email from CEO Murray Auchincloss to staff, in which he said the company is “focusing resources on our highest value opportunities,” noting that it had stopped or delayed thirty projects since last June.

BP has underperformed compared to its European rivals. In a report Tuesday, BP said weaker refinery margins and turnaround activity, which refers to maintenance, repairs, and upgrade work on facilities or plants, led to a one hundred million to three hundred million dollar blow to profits in the fourth quarter in two thousand twenty-four. Further declines are expected in oil production.

BP is now trying to increase digital capabilities into its business as artificial intelligence takes on a greater role in engineering and marketing. Auchincloss said the company is “uniquely positioned to grow value through the energy transition.”

It has also scrapped plans to cut oil and gas output by forty percent by two thousand thirty.

The job cuts amount to about five percent of BP’s entire workforce. Many of the contractors have already been let go. The current workforce stands at about eighty-seven thousand eight hundred employees.

Looking ahead, BP is slated to report full two thousand twenty-four earnings on February eleventh.

for more unbiased updates download the straight arrow news app