Shell has announced that by the end of 2022, between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs will be dropped from the company worldwide. It is also making moves to produce sustainable energy.
Shell currently employs 83,000 people around the globe, almost 10,000 of which are in the Netherlands, reports NOS. It’s headquarters in The Hague and Pernis include many of these employees. The multinational company has not yet specified where these jobs will be removed. It is expected that these changes will save the company between €1.7 billion and €2.1 billion.
Hit hard by the corona crisis
Shell found itself in the red this year, as demand for fuel plummeted and with it, the demand for oil. Shell’s CEO decided that certain management layers needed to be scrapped in order to streamline processes between site technicians and himself. Hence, at least 7,000 positions are no longer needed.
Changes for the climate
In an interview with Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Beurden highlighted that drastic reorganization is necessary to reach the company’s goal of being a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner. In other words, Shell is going green.
He admits that reorganisation is an “extremely difficult process”, but a necessary one for the future of the company. “We have to be net zero in all our operations, which means major changes at refineries, chemicals sites, on-shore and offshore production facilities. But it also means that we have to change the type of products that we sell,” Beurden said.
The oil company now also sells gas, and is collaborating with multiple wind farms in the North Sea. Shell will also be involved in the construction of 69 huge windmills with a rotor diameter of 200 meters. These will produce 759 megawatts, which is enough to supply about 750,000 households with power.
What do you think of Shell’s reorganisation? Let us know in the comments below.
Kent Smith/Photographic Services/Shell International Limited
Windmills produce 0 watts when the wind doesn’t blow. So called “Green Energy” can not supply the energy necessary to run a country. Not now, not ever. At best it is an expensive supplement.