OIL service company Baker Hughes has told 85 Aberdeen employees that they are being made redundant, it was claimed yesterday.
A source told the Press and Journal that the job losses are to be are in the US company’s drilling fluids operation.
A company spokesman in Houston last night insisted the number of jobs at risk was not as high as 85. He added that a consultation process had yet to begin.
The job losses are part of plans already announced by the company to cut its workforce globally by 1,500, or 4%, in response to weakness in the oil and gas market, in particular in North America.
The company said in January that 840 of the jobs would go in North America and the rest around the world.
Baker Hughes Inteq said in January that more than 100 jobs out of 417 in the Aberdeen area, at Portlethen, Stoneywood and offshore, were at risk as part of the overall cutbacks because of weaker demand for oil and gas.
A spokesman said it had entered a consultation period and would look at redeployment where possible.