SHELL is slashing around 20% of jobs in its integrated gas and upstream business as part of restructuring aimed at scaling back oil and gas production. The company says the cuts will affect two divisions in the business: exploration, strategy and portfolio, and development, subsurface and wells. Integrated gas and upstream is Shell’s largest vertical above downstream and renewables and includes the exploration of crude oil and natural gas, their conversion to fuel, and their marketing and trade to customers.
Last year the business took a hit, with earnings decreasing by more than half from around US$38.4bn in 2022, to US$15.6bn. A Shell spokesperson said: “Shell aims to create more value with less emissions by focusing on performance, discipline and simplification across the business. “That includes delivering structural operating cost reductions of US$2–3bn by the end of 2025, as announced at our Capital Markets Day event in June 2023. Achieving those reductions will require portfolio high grading, new efficiencies, and a leaner overall organisation.”
Cuts company-wide
Cuts are expected to affect workers in Houston, US, and The Hague in the Netherlands, and to a lesser degree in Britain, reports Reuters. Shell says the proposed jobs cuts are subject to engagement with employee representative bodies.
The move forms part of Shell’s overarching energy strategy to scale back on fossil fuels, and simultaneously grow its liquified natural gas (LNG) business as a transition fuel to renewables. Shell expects its total oil production to decline by 1–2%/y until 2030 compared to 2022, and its LNG business to grow by 20–30%.
Source: thechemicalengineer.com