More than 2,000 Scottish employees of Shell are bracing for job losses as the oil giant’s new chief executive makes his mark by cutting costs.
A power battle for the top post led to yesterday’s news that one of the unsuccessful internal candidates, Linda Cook, is to quit.
She heads Shell’s gas and power division and it is thought that incoming chief executive Peter Voser wants to merge it with the exploration and production arm and axe 30% of senior management staff.
The enlarged part of the business is expected to be headed by Malcolm Brinded – the other internal candidate to lose out to Mr Voser.
Mr Brinded is a former managing director of Shell Expro in Aberdeen and is currently Shell’s head of exploration and production.
Concerns are mounting that jobs in the Granite City could go further down the line as Shell looks to reduce its wage bill and other costs.
Chief financial officer Mr Voser becomes chief executive when Jeroen van der Veer retires at the end of June.
It is thought Mr Voser could unveil his proposals for the future of Shell at the annual senior staff get-together tomorrow in Berlin. But Shell declined to comment on Mr Voser’s reported plans and said Mrs Cook was going by “mutual consent”.
Analysts have speculated that the incoming chief executive is looking for a new start and a fresh team at the top of the company.
One Aberdeen Shell employee said last night: “People in the company here think that the merger of the two divisions will go ahead and that Malcolm Brinded will get the job leading the combined division.
“But no one knows yet for sure what Mr Voser’s plans are and what impact they could have on Aberdeen.
“There are plenty of jobs that could go here, but you can never predict what Shell can do.”
A questionmark continues to hang over Shell’s long-term commitment to Aberdeen.
Three months ago, the company said it was not planning any further job cuts among its local workforce.
The denial came after it emerged that the company had intensified cost-cutting efforts in response to the fall in oil prices.
It emerged in April last year that Shell was to cut about 300 posts in the Granite City by April 2010.
At that time, the company had about 2,500 people working out of Aberdeen – a mix of staff and contractors – and a range of onshore posts were to go.
The top-line job loss figure was put at 300, but it was anticipated that redundancies would fall to fewer than 200 after retirements and natural wastage were taken into account.
Just last week, Shell shareholders revolted amid fury over executive pay.
The group saw about 59.4% of investors vote against its remuneration report at the annual meeting held in The Hague and London.
Shell has come under fire after making huge payouts as part of its long-term incentive plan, despite missing performance targets.