Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Petroleum services company Aker Solutions is to cut a total of 270 jobs at its sites in Ågotnes and Eigersund, Norway. Around 170 jobs will be cut at Ågotnes, while around 100 jobs will be cut in Eigersund. The cuts are part of an ongoing restructuring process of which the latest round will affect a total of 650 employees located in Norway, India and Great Britain. The company is adjusting the capacity at the subsea service base at Ågotnes and its shipyard in Eigersund, to match a persistent lower level of activity in the Norwegian market following the drop in crude oil prices. Trade union representatives in Eigersund report that they have been in dialogue with the company since the fall and thus anticipated cuts, but add that employees are heavily affected. Formal talks were initiated at the end of January. Trade union representatives in the company fear further cuts may be looming. Other locations in Norway may also be affected at a later stage of the current round of restructuring, but it is too early to tell, according to the company.
Aker Solutions has conducted several rounds of restructuring in Norway since 2014 (see previous cases, Aker Solutions 2014 NO, 2015(1) NO and 2015(2) NO). In 2015, the company reduced its global subsea-capacity by 1,000 employees; around half of these jobs were cut in Norway in two separate rounds of restructuring. In 2016, the company reduced its staff in Oslo, Moss, Tranby and Ågotnes by a total of around 600 employees. Global staff has been gradually reduced from 20,000 in 2014 to 14,000 in 2017. Several media outlets have recently reported that parent company Aker is considering to sell Aker Solutions. At the end of January 2017, the company secured a contract for extensive work at the new oil field Johan Sverdrup, in collaboration with Kværner and Statoil. The project will in total employ up to 2,000 workers and could prove instrumental in avoiding further job cuts in the company.
Eurofound (2017), Aker Solutions, Internal restructuring in Norway, factsheet number 90156, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/90156.
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