Shell plans up to 2,800 lay-offs, move IT jobs to Asia

Shell plans up to 2,800 lay-offs, move IT jobs to Asia

Agence France-Presse, London

The troubled oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell said on Wednesday it planned to cut up to 30 percent of its 9,300 global information technology workers and move some of the jobs to Malaysia and India.

The Anglo-Dutch group, struggling to restore investor confidence after admitting it had overestimated its proven oil and gas reserves by more than one-fifth, said the move would result in the loss of up to 2,800 jobs by 2006.

"We talked to staff and what we said to them is we do anticipate a reduction of about 20 to 30 percent in our global IT and contractor position," said Shell spokesman Andy Corrigan.

"There are, at the moment, about 9,300 Shell staff and contractors working in IT in Shell globally. Therefore we're looking at reductions of between 1,900 and 2,800 by the end of 2006."

The restructuring, the result of a two year program, could see jobs shifted to Malaysia, where Shell already has 1,000 IT workers, though no final decision has been made, Corrigan said.

Some work may also be outsourced to India, where Shell has signed agreements with U.S. group IBM and Indian software major Wipro, to provide services.

"It's about providing a more efficient IT service for our businesses," said Corrigan.

Shell has seen its reputation badly dented after cutting its estimated proven energy reserves three times since January, resulting in the departure of three of its top executives.

An explosive internal report revealed earlier this month that executives knew of problems with reserves long before they told investors.

The group is being investigated by U.S. and British regulators and is also facing a class action lawsuit in the United States over the reserves shortfall.

The U.S. Justice Department is also understood to be probing whether the Anglo-Dutch oil giant has violated any laws. .