BP Exploration cuts 600 Alaska positions

Kristen Nelson

Six hundred positions, 220 staff and 380 contractor, are being eliminated by BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., the company said Jan. 25.

BP has said it would be looking for 30 percent reductions in Alaska — the 600 positions being eliminated are 29 percent of BP’s total employee and contractor base of 2,085 in Alaska (963 employees and 1,122 contractors).

More than two-thirds of the reductions, 410 staff and contractor positions, are in the company’s Anchorage headquarters building. One hundred and ninety of the eliminated positions are on the North Slope.

BP said that employees were being notified of their job status and that most of the reductions will be effective March 31.

“This is an extremely painful step, and we know it has a tremendous impact on many people’s lives,” said Richard Campbell, president of BP Alaska, in a Jan. 25 statement. “But it is essential,” he said, “as part of our broader effort to reduce costs in order to sustain and prolong our Alaskan operations in this difficult business environment.”

BP said that in addition to severance packages and benefits, affected staff are being provided outplacement assistance, counseling and coaching, career transition consultation and office support.

BP spokesman Paul Laird told PNA Feb. 3 that the cuts were across the board — virtually every department in the company was affected.

“It was based entirely on skills and how they line up with the company’s view of its current and future needs and on performance. No question,” he said, “with a cut of this magnitude we have lost, are losing, some very good people.”

Prior to the reductions implemented between 1992 and 1994 the company had more than 1,400 employees — not counting contractors, Laird said. Once these reductions are fully implemented, he said, we will have fewer than 750 employees.