Oil giant Shell to cut 6,500 jobs

Royal Dutch Shell has announced plans to cut 6,500 jobs this year. It is part of the company’s plans to reduce $4 billion (£2.6bn) in operating costs and follows the […]

Royal Dutch Shell has announced plans to cut 6,500 jobs this year.

It is part of the company’s plans to reduce $4 billion (£2.6bn) in operating costs and follows the collapse in world oil prices.

The oil giant said the company has to be resilient in today’s oil price environment and added it is “planning for a prolonged downturn” in crude prices.

The cost of oil dropped to an average of $62 (£40) a barrel in the second quarter of this year. It currently stands at $53 (£34) a barrel.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said: “We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time whilst keeping an eye on recovery. We’re taking a prudent approach, pulling on powerful financial levers to manage through this downturn.”

The company also announced profits of $3.4 billion (£2bn) in the three months to June, a 35% decrease compared to last year.

It plans to cut investment by $7 billion (£4.5bn) to around $30 billion this year, down 20% from 2014.

Shell is in the midst of getting regulatory clearances from all the countries it operates in to buy UK exploration company BG Group. It was given the green light by Brazil earlier this month.

Centrica today announced it would cut 6,000 jobs while British Gas saw profits double in the first half of this year.

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