14 October 2015, News Wires – Statoil is reportedly looking to further downsize its operations in Norway by shifting some of its administrative functions to Eastern Europe in a move that is likely to lead to more local job losses.
The state-owned oil company is presently hammering out plans to establish a new base in a lower-cost country for its global business services division that presently handles functions within areas such as communication, IT, property and finance, and employs more than 2000 people in Norway, according to Upstream’s sister publication Dagens Naeringsliv.
A decision on the proposal, which was first mooted in April and has been the subject of recent meetings at Statoil to finalise the possible move, is expected to be made in early 2016, a company spokesman was quoted as saying.
He indicated the relocation would be to a European country of it goes ahead, with the paper suggesting it would most likely be in Eastern Europe.
If it goes ahead, the internal outsourcing move potentially could put hundreds more Norwegian jobs on the line at Statoil, which already aims to cut between another 1100 and 1500 positions over the next year as part of cost-cutting efforts that will result in a workforce reduction of around 20% since 2013.
The company has previously announced it intends to make annual savings of $1.7 billion from 2016, with outsourcing seen as a key measure to achieve cost reductions and efficiency gains.
- Upstream
