Shell Begins Workforce Downsizing To Trim Operational Costs

Oil major Shell has commenced cutting hundreds of jobs, including roles within its low-carbon solutions unit.
The layoffs form part of the UK’s oil and gas major’s broader strategy to enhance performance and increase investor returns.

The initial phase of job cuts at Shell has affected its low-carbon solutions unit, with staff receiving details this week following an internal announcement in December 2023, Bloomberg reports citing sources.
Earlier this week, Shell reached an agreement for the sale of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in a transaction valued at $2.4 billion (£1.89 billion).

SPDC is being acquired by Renaissance, a consortium comprising five companies: ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith and Petrolin.

The sources added that the corporate affairs division has also been informed, and further reductions are expected in departments such as projects and technology.
Shell aims to create more value with less emissions by focusing on performance, discipline and simplification, a spokesperson was quoted as saying, adding that, ‘achieving those reductions will require portfolio high grading, new efficiencies and a leaner overall organisation..’

Shell CEO, Wael Sawan has committed to stringent measures to refine the company’s performance and elevate shareholder value. The company is reportedly working to narrow the valuation disparity with US counterparts such as ExxonMobil and Chevron through asset sales and scaling back on lower-yield investments, some of which are in the renewable energy sector.

At the close of 2022, Shell’s workforce numbered approximately 93,000 on a full and part-time basis globally, more than twice the size of Chevron’s staff, even though Chevron boasts a market value that is 34 per cent greater.

Following Shell’s divestiture of its domestic retail business to Octopus Energy, around 1,800 individuals are set to depart from the company. In October 2023, Shell disclosed that 200 positions from its low carbon solutions unit would be eliminated, accounting for around 15 per cent of the division, with an additional 130 roles under consideration.