Oil giant BP has informed staff from its North Sea operations that it plans to switch to an equal time rota.
The move, which is also being considered by a number of other companies including Talisman and EnQuest, was announced to staff earlier this week.
At the beginning of the year BP said it would be reducing its headcount by 300 staff members.
BP said the cuts would consist of 200 full-time employees and 100 contractors.
Following the oil price decline last year, oil companies have been looking to reduce costs, including moving to three on, three off shift patterns.
A spokeswoman said: “Across BP we are looking at a range of measures to make our business more competitive for the long term. In the North Sea, we believe that a key step toward this is to review our UK offshore rotational arrangements. We spoke to employee representatives yesterday about our decision to move to a 3/3 rota.
“We are committed to full and open consultation with our ECCF and also to ensuring that safe operations remain our number one priority by conducting a thorough risk assessment.”
BP said the change was for the “long-term” sustainability of the business.
The change is likely to come into effect from January 2016, in order to allow sufficient time for consultation and to ensure minimum disruption to personal commitments.
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