Spain’s Repsol cutting Canadian staff by about 30% after global restructuring

Spanish oil company Repsol SA is cutting about 30% of its Canadian workforce, following a global restructuring process, the company confirmed in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

“Repsol is constantly evaluating our activity and organization to drive continuous improvement and ensure the long-term sustainability of our business. This process has resulted in a reduction of our workforce in the Calgary, Chauvin and Edson offices,” a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

The new structure is “simplified and standardized” to deliver on Repsol’s short- and longer-term objectives, the spokeswoman said.

Repsol declined to comment on the exact number of people affected by the reorganization. Employees in the Canadian exploration and production and corporate units affected by the reorganization will be informed this week, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.

“This will include individuals who will be filling the roles that remain with the organization, those who will be working through a transition period prior to exiting the organization, and those who will exit immediately. Unfortunately, as I already mentioned, there is not a role for everyone,” the memo from Paul Ferneyhough, Repsol’s executive director of North America, said.

As of Dec. 31, 2018, Repsol had over 8,700 employees in Canada, according to the company website.

Calgary office employees will be informed on Tuesday while “conversations” with field office employees will be held through the week, Ferneyhough said.

Repsol is one of the few international oil firms that still has a large presence in Canada, where delays in building new export pipelines and declining capital investment have slowed oil and gas development.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York and Nia Williams in Calgary, Alberta Editing by Leslie Adler)