Dive Brief:
- BP plans to cut about 700 office-based global positions as the oil and convenience giant continues restructuring its organization, a company spokesperson confirmed to C-Store Dive.
- The reductions will affect roughly 8% of BP’s non-frontline workforce within what had been known as its production and operations business before the company’s recent reorganization, according to the spokesperson.
- The cuts will not include convenience retail positions, the spokesperson emphasized.
Dive Insight:
BP’s organizational overhaul, which took effect July 1, replaced its previous three-segment structure — production and operations, gas and low carbon energy, and customers and products — with two divisions: upstream and downstream. CEO Meg O’Neill said at the time the changes would “reduce complexity and strengthen execution” as BP works to streamline operations.
The company is now eliminating hundreds of roles within at least one of the former business segments as part of that effort.
In a statement on Thursday, the spokesperson said BP recognizes the impact on affected employees and will prioritize continued communication with and support for its teams.
“We are building a simpler, stronger, more valuable bp,” the spokesperson said. “As part of this process, we are proposing changes that would result in a reduction in roles, intended to reduce complexity, improve accountability and support long-term performance in a changing market environment.”
The company’s convenience retail operations, which previously sat within the customers and products division and now falls under downstream, are undergoing changes of their own. Shortly after announcing the restructuring, BP parted ways with two of its highest-ranking convenience executives: Greg Franks, former senior vice president of mobility and convenience for the Americas, and Derek Gaskins, former head of guest experience for BP’s U.S. c-store network.
BP also announced late last year that it was planning to divest roughly 10% of its global company-operated convenience store network as part of its broader portfolio review.
