North Sea operator Taqa said yesterday it had completed a two year transformation project, achieving savings of £2.9billion across its global business.
The cost-cutting was at the expense of more than 1,000 jobs, or a quarter of the firm’s workforce.
The Middle East company reported a widening of pre-tax losses to £5.3billion last year, from £527million in 2015.
Taqa was hit by write-off provisions totalling more than £4.8billion and £1billion in finance costs.
Donald Taylor, acting managing director of TAQA’s Europe operations, said: “Our focus in 2016 was optimising production and ensuring safe and efficient operations. This is demonstrated in our decision to bring our offshore maintenance team leaders in-house, giving us greater control and ownership and increasing process uptime and equipment availability as a result.
“In 2016, production averaged 56,500 boed. We achieved a 16% reduction in per-barrel operating costs compared to 2015 and a reduction of almost 32% when compared to 2014. These transformation efforts ensure that we continue to generate positive cashflow at low oil prices.”