Scottish employees of oil giant Shell may have to wait months before finding out if their jobs are at risk in a major restructuring at the business.
The group has 102,000 people worldwide, and a spokeswoman said yesterday the new organisation would have a smaller workforce.
However, she could not say anything specific about the impact on the 2,000-plus people working out of Aberdeen.
Shell has 8,500 employees in total in the UK.
The spokeswoman added: “Staff will know by the end of the year what the impact on them will be.
“There are no particular dates or regional information at the moment.”
There has been speculation that 30% of senior management could lose their jobs, along with more junior staff.
The company confirmed yesterday that its core exploration and production business would be divided into two units – one covering the Americas and the other the rest of the world. The former will be called Upstream Americas and the latter Upstream International.
The new divisions will also take responsibility for liquefied natural gas and power operations in their spheres.
Gas and power was previously a separate unit under the US head of Shell’s gas and power business, Linda Cook, an unsuccessful candidate for the oil giant’s chief executive post, who is to quit.
Malcolm Brinded, a former managing director of Shell Expro in Aberdeen and who also lost out on the top job, will become executive director of Upstream International.
Incoming chief executive Peter Voser, Shell’s chief financial officer, said: “These changes will increase our focus, accelerate our plans to reduce complexity, corporate overheads and costs, and result in faster decision-making and delivery.
“The industry faces considerable challenges, from high costs, volatile energy prices and competition for new projects.
“We must build on our momentum, improve our operating performance and increase the pace of strategy execution.”
Shell’s chief executive Jeroen van der Veer, who retires at the end of June, added: “We have made good progress on simplification and improving efficiency in recent years, but the competition is not standing still.”