Norwegian oil major Statoil has decided not to proceed with the evaluations of a potential business center in Europe.
The decision was presented at a meeting with employee representatives on Friday, March 11.
According to the company, at the meeting it was agreed that further efficiency improvements and cost reductions were needed, and that the employee representatives and management must continue their efforts to identify other actions to achieve this.
“Our industry is currently facing a very demanding situation. Substantial, lasting cost reductions are therefore needed. There is a joint understanding of this by the company and the employee representatives. We have agreed to intensify our efforts to identify other measures that will enable us to achieve additional rationalisation and cost reductions,” says Statoil’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Hans Jakob Hegge .
In November 2015, the company started investigating the basis for a business center outside Norway to cut costs. The evaluations were part of the efforts to increase Statoil’s competitiveness in an environment of sustained low commodity prices that call for lasting cost reductions, the company explained.
Further, the company said, selected services within business support and procurement were in scope for this center. The considered number of employees was around 180, approximately half of them internal positions, Statoil added.
“The evaluations have been thorough, and after an overall evaluation we choose not to progress this work. We must therefore identify other measures to reduce the level of costs. Management and employee representatives share a common goal of strengthening the company’s competitiveness and profitability,” says Hegge.