Tullow Oil to cut jobs as oil price slump continues

Tullow Oil has said it is planning to cut costs through a reduction of its workforce according to an unnamed source quoted by Reuters.

In the article by Reuters the source says he or she expects a smaller company in the coming months although no percentage or number was disclosed.

This will be bad news for communities living in areas who have benefitted from the employment as a result of ongoing exploration especially in new frontiers in East Africa.

Already the company has announced a reduction in offshore exploration costs with expenditure plans in the first half set at just $300 million according to the company down from $1 billion over the same period in 2014.

Employees in the East African acreage will however be hanging on a statement by Tullow that the company would focus primarily on East Africa where it has major basin-opening potential.

“Tullow remains exploration-led and will continue to add further high quality frontier acreage so that, as conditions allow, we can return to drilling the types of prospects that have given us the development portfolio we have today,” Tullow Oil Chief Executive Officer Aidan Heavey promised.

The news also come after months of rumors that India’s overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp ONGC Videsh was looking into farming into Tullow Oil assets in Ghana and Kenya.

Other statistics from a report prepared in May 2014 by Tullow Oil showed that the company had generated over 3000 jobs in Kenya, three-fifths of which went to residents of Turkana mainly through local contractors.