BP cutting 4,700 jobs worldwide as part of cost-saving drive

LONDON (AP) – Britain-based oil company BP is cutting 4,700 jobs worldwide and another 3,000 contractor positions as part of a cost-cutting drive.

In a letter to staff Thursday seen by The Associated Press, CEO Murray Auchincloss said the job losses “account for the majority of this year’s expected layoffs.”

The cuts amount to just over 5% of BP’s 90,000 employees.A memo from Auchinclos said about 2,600 of the contractors involved in the job cuts had already left the business.

The company announced last October that it had identified $500 million in cost savings to be delivered this year, a quarter of the $2 billion goal it set in April by the end of 2026.

Auchincloss said the company was “focusing resources on our highest value opportunities” and that it had suspended or terminated 30 projects since June.

The cuts come as BP tries to introduce more digital capabilities into the business, with artificial intelligence playing an increasingly large role in engineering and marketing operations.

In April, Auchincloss announced plans to make $2 billion (£1.6 billion) in savings by the end of 2026.

The plan is intended to partially revive the company’s stock price, which has fallen about 20% since last spring.

BP has also pulled back on a number of renewable energy projects and, according to media reports, abandoned a previous plan to cut oil and gas production by 40% by 2030.

Auchincloss, however, said the company was still “uniquely positioned to grow value through the energy transition” but that it needed to “continue to improve our competitiveness and move at the pace of our customers and society”.

It comes days after BP postponed an investor event in New York to allow the CEO to recover following a medical procedure , and will take place in London to “ensure his full recovery”.