Qatar Petroleum Plans New Wave of Job Cuts

By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Rania El Gamal
Thursday, April 30, 2020

Qatar Petroleum, one of the world's biggest energy companies, plans a new wave of job cuts and spending reductions to cope with the slump in oil and gas demand which has hit global economies, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Economic lockdowns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic look set to cut global energy demand sharply with business activity stalling across much of the globe as the containment measures hammer the world economy, cementing economists’ views of a deep global recession.

Qatar Petroleum's (QP) Chief Executive Saad al-Kaabi told the company's employees in an internal memo of the planned staff cuts which would be finalized after Eid-al-Fitr religious holiday for Muslims, which is towards the end of May, the sources said.

"Like all oil and gas companies QP is looking at reducing expenditure due to the market downturn which... will be weak for some time," one of the sources said, adding that QP's planned cuts would not impact its energy development plans.

Qatar, a tiny but wealthy country is one of the most influential LNG market players with annual production of 77 million tonnes. It plans to increase its LNG production to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.

QP will postpone the start of production from its new gas facilities until 2025 following a delay in the bidding process, but is not downsizing the world's largest LNG project, the North Field expansion, Kaabi told Reuters earlier in April.

The planned job and cost cuts will be the third wave of restructuring by QP over the past 6 years. In 2015, the company said it has reduced its staff numbers in a restructuring and decided to exit all non-core businesses after a plunge in oil and gas prices increased financial pressures on Qatar.

In 2018, it has also merged state-owned LNG producers Qatargas and RasGas into one company.

Kaabi told Reuters in 2018 that QP's operating costs would be 4 billion Qatar riyals ($1.1 billion) a year lower due to its earlier restructuring, which included cutting as many as 8,000 jobs to create a more streamlined operation.

(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)


Categories: Energy People Middle East Activity Production Jobs People & Company News

Related Stories

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

Pandion Energy Divests Interests in Three Norwegian Assets to Inpex

EnQuest Picks Up Offshore Oil and Gas Block in Brunei

Woodside Finds South Korean Partners to Advance LNG Value Chain

Santos and QatarEnergy Agree Mid-Term LNG Supply

BP Expands Oil and Gas Scope in Azerbaijan with New Projects and Exploration Rights

Indonesia's Medco Starts Production at Natuna Sea Fields

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

Pakistan’s OGDC to Start Production at ADNOC’s Offshore Block by 2027

CNOOC Sees 11% Profit Growth in 2024 Driven by Record Oil Production

Current News

PTTEP Acquires Southeast Asia’s Offshore Block from Chevron’s Hess Unit for $450M

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

Sapura Scoops Over $118M for Chevron, PTTEP Subsea Ops off Thailand

Pandion Energy Divests Interests in Three Norwegian Assets to Inpex

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Dutch Contractor Completes Malaysia’s Largest 'Rig-to-Reef' Decom Project

China Rolls Out 17MW Floating Wind Turbine Prototype

SBM Offshore’s Jaguar FPSO Enters Drydock in Singapore (Video)

EnQuest Picks Up Offshore Oil and Gas Block in Brunei

CNOOC Finds Oil and Gas in South China Sea

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com