More Shell Job Losses

Shell has announced plans to reduce staff numbers across eight European countries by 1,300 to 4,150 over the next two years. Around 260 Shell Expro posts are expected to go between Aberdeen, London and Lowestoft. It is believed that majority of the positions would be lost when their Lowestoft operation is closed.

The Lowestoft offices provide the management and administrative support for Shell's gas production and exploration in the North Sea using both onshore and offshore workers. Shell, which has been in Lowestoft for 37 years, is one of the town's largest employers. The company will continue to run 27 platforms off the East Anglian coast, employing 300 people, and still use the gas terminal up the coast at Bacton in Norfolk.

The redundancies are part of the move towards a new organisation, Shell EP (Exploration and Production) Europe, which will be led by one management team. Part of this will result in Aberdeen becoming a European centre for technology, responsible for production and technical operations, including development and project delivery.

Shell Expro - a joint venture between Shell UK and ExxonMobil - currently employs 2,400 people onshore and offshore in the UK, with 1,800 of them working out of Aberdeen. On top of this, there are around 1,500 UK contractor employees split between onshore and offshore.

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