* Cuts represent over 10% of Shell's workforce
* Shell's Q3 oil and gas output down sharply
* Fuel sales recover as coronavirus lockdowns eased
(Adds analyst comment, updates shares)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell
announced on Wednesday plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs, or over
10% of its workforce, as part of a major overhaul to shift the
oil and gas giant to low-carbon energy.
Shell, which had 83,000 employees at the end of 2019, said
that the reorganisation will lead to additional annual savings
of around $2 billion to $2.5 billion by 2022, going partly
beyond cuts of $3 to $4 billion announced earlier this year.
Shell's London-traded shares were up 0.15% by 0920 GMT,
compared with 0.9% gains for the broader energy sector.
Last month it launched a broad review of its business aimed
at cutting costs as it prepares to restructure its operations as
part of the shift to low-carbon energy.
The Anglo-Dutch company said it expected to cut 7,000 to
9,000 jobs by the end of 2022, including some 1,500 people who
have agreed to take voluntary redundancy this year.
Rival BP this year announced plans to cut around
10,000 jobs as part of CEO Bernard Looney's plans to rapidly
expand its renewables business and reduce oil and gas
production.
Reducing costs is vital for Shell's plans to move into the
power sector and renewables where margins are relatively low.
Competition is also likely to intensify with utilities and
rival oil firms including BP and Total all battling
for market share as economies around the world go green.
"We have looked closely at how we are organised and we feel
that, in many places, we have too many layers in the company,"
CEO Ben van Beurden said in an internal interview published on
Shell's website.
FUEL SALES RECOVERY
In an operations update, Shell also said its oil and gas
production was set to drop sharply in the third quarter to
around 3.04 million barrels of oil equivalent per day due to
lower output as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and
hurricanes that forced offshore platforms to shut down.
Shell, the world's largest fuel retailer, saw a recovery in
fuel sales in the third quarter from lows hit in the previous
quarter as some countries gradually emerged from lockdown
measures.
In the second quarter, Shell narrowly avoided its first
quarterly loss in recent history, helped by a booming trading
business. It however announced nearly $16.8 billion in
impairment charges after sharply lowering its outlook for oil
and gas prices in the wake of the pandemic.
Shell said it will take another impairment charge of $1 to
$1.5 billion in the third quarter.
Shell is exploring ways to reduce spending on oil and gas
production, its largest division known as upstream, by 30% to
40% through cuts in operating costs and capital spending on new
projects, two sources involved with the review told Reuters
earlier this month.
"The transformation to a leaner and lower-carbon
organisation is the right one for Shell longer term in our view,
but with the macro environment still challenging this may take
some time to reflect in the share price," Barclays analysts said
in a note.
Shell said on Wednesday it also plans to reduce the number
of its refineries to less than 10 from 17 currently and over 55
15 years ago.
"If we want to get there, if we want to succeed as an
integral part of a society heading towards net-zero (carbon)
emissions, now is the time to accelerate," van Beurden said.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason
Neely)
