More than two-fifths of the 1,000 job losses anticipated at international oilfield service firm Archer will be in the UK, it said yesterday.
Archer, which is listed on the Oslo stock exchange but run from Hamilton, Bermuda, said it had already laid off about 135 workers at its offices in Blackburn, Aberdeenshire.
A spokesman added: “Based on conversations with our clients, we anticipate that there will be an additional 290 UK onshore and offshore personnel released by the end of the second quarter in order to align with scheduled activities.”
The estimated 425 job losses in UK North Sea operations are among the 1,000 redundancies announced by the company on Monday as the global oil and gas continues to shrink its workforce after a sharp slump in oil prices.
Yesterday, the company said: “Archer has been notified by several clients that, due to current market conditions, it is their intention to review and possibly make changes to their 2015 drilling and well intervention programmes.
“As a consequence, Archer is assessing its forecasted requirements for personnel. As we have previously communicated, some roles are at risk.
“Redundancies are always a last measure and we are evaluating all remaining approved operations in an effort to relocate as many of the affected team members as possible to keep them in employment.
“It is important to us to minimise the impact on our personnel and retain as much of their expertise as possible. However, despite our best efforts, we must unfortunately make some staffing cuts.
“This decision has not been taken lightly and is a last resort. We are working with each affected and potentially affected employee to ensure they are fully supported during this time.”
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