Chevron is asking its employees to reapply for jobs, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources in the know. The move is part of efforts to reduce the company’s headcount by up to 15 percent globally.
The supermajor said in May it planned to reduce the number of its employees by 10 to 15 percent following the oil price collapse amid the pandemic.
“This is a difficult decision, and we do not make it lightly,” Chevron said in a statement at the time. The company employed nearly 50,000 as of the end of 2019. As of October 2020, this was down to 45,000. It is unclear how the job cuts will affect each location and business segment, Chevron added.
Chevron’s workforce recently increased again, after its acquisition of Noble Energy, with a headcount of 2,200. The biggest deal in oil and gas since the start of the pandemic was worth $4.1 billion in an all-stock transaction.
Chevron reported a net loss of $8.3 billion for the second quarter of the year, after booking massive impairment charges caused by the industry and pandemic crisis. The net loss includes impairments and other net charges of US$1.8 billion, mostly associated with downward revisions to Chevron’s commodity price outlook, which the company made in view of the demand collapse and uncertainties over the economic recovery.
“Given the uncertainties associated with economic recovery, and ample oil and gas supplies, we made a downward revision to our commodity price outlook which resulted in asset impairments and other charges,” said Michael Wirth, Chevron’s chairman of the board and CEO, at the time.
Now, in an interview with Reuters, Wirth confirmed the job cut plans but did not say how many employees were to be affected by them. Wirth added that the decision will be made within a few weeks of the workers reapplying for their jobs.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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