Over 30,000 job cuts in the oil industry

Hanøytangen Photo: Tore Meek / NTB scanpix

Norway has now passed 30,000 announced job cuts in the oil and gas industry, according to an overview from DNB Markets. More jobs will  probably disappear.

Between 29,700 and 31,300 positions are reported cut since the sharp drop in oil prices which made it necessary to cut costs.

– As long as the oil price is as low as now, it will only get worse, so I think it will continue unless  the oil price rises again. It must then be  double of what it is today, almost immediately, which is unlikely to happen. We can probably be sure that the cuts will continue in 2016 as long as we do not get the activity up again, said oil analyst Torbjorn Kjus of DNB Markets.

The overview includes both permanent and contract labor in jobs and related to Norwegian petroleum industry.

Statoil was the company that had to remove most positions, with 2400-2800 employees and 2,000 contractors – with Aker Solutions in second place, with about 2,500 permanent employees and 400 contract workers.

– There is a crisis in a global industry, and and this affects Norway as well. It just gets worse and worse. We see this when it’s not just companies but whole countries that are struggling. Azerbaijan has applied for emergency loans from the International Monetary Fund. Angola and Nigeria have requested a loan from the World Bank, said Kjus.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today