(Adds context, tax cuts, union reaction)
LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell isplanning further job cuts in its UK North Sea oil and gasbusiness in 2015, the company said on Thursday, just a weekafter a package of tax cuts from the Treasury aimed atencouraging growth in the industry.
"Shell UK plans to reduce the number of staff and agencycontractors who support the company's UK North Sea operations byat least 250 in 2015," Shell said in an emailed statement.
The reduction is in addition to 250 job losses announced inAugust, Shell said, and follows North Sea job cuts by BP,Talisman Sinopec, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.
Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector employs over 400,000people and is worth about 5 billion pounds ($7.47 billion) ayear to the state. But investment activity has stalled due to acombination of high costs, high taxes and falling oil prices.
Last week, Britain announced a raft of oil tax cuts and aninvestment allowance with the aim of stimulating investment andproduction, heeding calls for help from battered North Sea oiland gas companies battling high costs and the price slump.
While these measures were broadly welcomed by the industry,some participants expressed reservations about whether they weresufficient to make a material difference without a rebound inthe oil price.
Paul Goodfellow, upstream vice president for the UK andIreland at Shell, said that while reforms to the fiscal regimewere a "step in the right direction", the industry needed toredouble its efforts to tackle costs and improve profitabilityif the North Sea was to continue to attract investment.
Shell also said that a decision had been made in principleto move to an "even time rota". As a result, a three weeks on,three weeks off shift pattern - as opposed to the moretraditional two weeks on, two or three weeks off - will be putforward for consultation with the staff committee.
Trade unions Unite and GMB are already balloting theirmembers working offshore to gauge appetite for strike actionover changes to shift patterns, which have already beenintroduced by some operators.
"We think this cancer will spread throughout the North Sea,"said John Taylor, regional industrial organiser at Unite. "Weare totally opposed to the introduction of three on, three off."
The ballot will close on March 27. "We expect anoverwhelming majority in favour of strike action," he said. ($1 = 0.6697 pounds) (Reporting by Alex Lawler and Claire Milhench; editing by SusanThomas)