Royal Dutch Shell may have to cut more
jobs after laying off 12,500 people over the past year, Chief Executive
Officer Ben van Beurden told The Telegraph.
The new cuts would be prompted by a “continuous improvement drive,” the Shell CEO said.
Elaborating on what this drive would
imply, Van Beurden noted jobs are becoming unnecessary as business
operations get shut down, or positions being moved to another part of
the world, or becoming redundant because of the drive for enhanced
business efficiency.
After its US$53-billion acquisition of
BG Group, which closed around six months after the start of the price
rout, Shell has been struggling to make ends meet, cutting costs,
slashing jobs and shelving projects, including its massive Arctic
exploration project.
Now, despite a certain improvement in
prices and synergies coming in from the tie-up with BG Group, the
situation is still tough and layoffs are one of the easiest ways to cut
costs, as demonstrated across the oil and gas board, where job losses
are in six-figure territory to date, raising concerns the industry may
well be in for a workforce shortage in the not too distant future.
In his interview with The Telegraph,
Van Beurden also said that he expected oil prices to remain volatile in
the coming years but that eventually they will rebound more
consistently. He could not, however, point to any price level that will
see prices stabilising after the volatility subsides.
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