French oil company Total’s pending acquisition of Mærsk Oil in Norway has raised questions over how many people may lose their jobs.
Plans call for Mærsk’s 41 employees in Norway to be integrated into Total Norge, which currently has 438 employees in Norway. Both companies have operations in Stavanger.
Total Norge, however, confirmed it’s cutting staff in what a spokesman called a “voluntary process.” Spokesman Leif Harald Halvorsen told news bureau NTB that the cuts are being made “completely independently” of the acquisition of Mærsk. It nonetheless remained unclear what will happen with the remaining Total workers and those coming from Mærsk, since plans call for a reduction of 100 positions.
“The plan for Total is to merge North Sea operations for Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands at a main office in Copenhagen,” Halvorsen said. “We don’t know much yet about the consequences that will have for us in Norway.”
newsinenglish.no staff
