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The reductions represent about 3% to 4% of Exxon’s global workforce and are part of the company’s ongoing efficiency drive, Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in an memo to employees Tuesday. Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd., which is nearly 70% owned by Exxon, announced Monday it is cutting 20% of its workforce.
Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and bp Plc are among major oil companies to have also announced thousands of job cuts in recent months as crude prices tumbled this year in response to increased supplies from OPEC and its allies. Exxon, however, has been on a major internal restructuring push since 2019 as Woods sought to simplify the company’s sprawling global footprint that came as a result of the merger with Mobil two decades ago.
Exxon is making “tough decisions” that build upon a years-long effort to improve competitiveness, Woods said in the memo. “The changes we’ve announced today will further strengthen our advantages and grow the gap with our competition, helping to keep us in the lead for decades to come,” he said.
Exxon declined to comment beyond the employee memo.
The regional hubs will focus on Exxon’s major growth initiatives such as oil in Guyana, liquefied natural gas along the Gulf Coast and trading globally. For example, the company recently announced plans to move employees from Brussels and Leatherhead, UK, to central London, where many of its traders are based.
Exxon had nine functional companies that operated relatively independently from one another when Woods took over in 2017, creating layers of bureaucracy and duplication of support services. The company now has three main divisions — production, refining and low-carbon — all of which share services like engineering, IT and project management.
The changes have helped Exxon cut $13.5 billion of annual costs since 2019, more than all other international oil majors combined, according to the company. It plans to increase this figure by 30% through the end of the decade.
Some savings have come through asset sales and workforce reductions, but Woods has said the changes also have led to better performance, such has improved maintenance of major facilities and better sharing of best practices between business units.
Exxon employed 61,000 people globally at the end of 2024, nearly 20% less than in 2019, according to the company’s annual filings. Imperial had 5,100 employees at the end of 2024.
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