SHELL is to cut 330 jobs from its North Sea operations, the majority in Aberdeen, in "a major blow to the North East".
The news comes as part of a wider company reshaping. Last year, the firm announced plans to cut between 7000 and 9000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2022 following a collapse in oil demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The UK upstream side of the business will be affected in this round of cuts with around 1330 positions being reduced to around 1000 over the next two years.
While the majority of these reductions are office-based in Aberdeen, many are related to older platforms – such as Brent Charlie, which is due to be decommissioned in the next couple of years – and investment projects coming to an end.
Frontline operations at North Sea platforms and gas plants will be broadly unaffected, with Shell maintaining it is still committed to investing in the region.
A spokesman said: “We are undergoing and implementing a strategic review of the organisation, which intends to ensure we are set up to thrive throughout the energy transition and be a simpler organisation.
“As indicated last year, because of the efficiencies we expect to gain we will reduce between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs globally by the end of 2022.
“We are on track with that process.”
Richard Thomson, the SNP MP for Gordon, hit out at the news. He said: "This is a blow to the North East and my thoughts are with those whose jobs are under threat.
"More than ever, we need an energy transition underway which is just and which protects North East jobs - the promised North Sea 'sector deal' must come earlier in Q1 than later."
This is a blow to the NE and my thoughts are with those whose jobs are under threat. More than ever, we need an energy transition underway which is just and which protects NE jobs - the promised North Sea 'sector deal' must come earlier in Q1 than later. https://t.co/fImTAZBRi6
— Richard Thomson MP (@RThomsonMP) January 12, 2021
It comes as Scotland's biggest food aid network, the Trussell Trust, warned that much of the food bank use in the North East made of people on low incomes, furloughed or redundant. The Trust said many come from the oil and gas sector that made the Granite City rich.
READ MORE: Food banks brace for ‘killer’ January as poverty crisis escalates
“They’ve been let go from their work because of the pandemic but they’ve got no recourse to public funds,” said Evan Adamson of Aberdeen charity Instant Neighbour.
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