Drilling contractor Songa Offshore is set to lay off 200 workers, and shut offices in UK and South Korea. The company on Tuesday said the move was needed as the company “is now transforming from being largely a projects organization to an optimized operating organization.”
As part of the process, Songa Offshore said the overall number of onshore employees and contractors, is proposed to be reduced by up to 200, of this 76 employees and 124 contractors, reflecting the current market.
Songa Offshore said it would centralize the support functions out of Norway and the plan is to close offices in Aberdeen and South Korea. Headcount reductions will primarily take place in the project organization in South Korea and the project supporting organizations in Stavanger and Aberdeen. The process will also include a “rightsizing” of the operating and staff organizations in Cyprus, Stavanger, Oslo and Bergen.
With the announced measures, Songa Offshore hopes to achieve an annual reduction in expenses of approximately $30 million.
The offshore organization is not affected by this process, Songa Offshore said.
“This is a very important and necessary adjustment of our organisation to secure Songa Offshore’s competitiveness and sustainability in an extremely challenging drilling market,” says CEO Bjørnar Iversen.