The Statoil organisation must work more efficiently if its results are to be improved.
A changing level of activity in the group explains why it will have to downsize.
Current estimates indicate that Statoil's overall personnel requirements are likely to contract by the equivalent of some 1,500 full-time jobs up to the end of 2000. That includes contract staff and consultants.
"We'll have a more reliable picture of future personnel needs once the group has reviewed its future level of activity and identified the potential offered by new and more effective working processes," says Kjølv E Egeland, senior vice president for human resources.
The process of dimensioning the group's human resources will be pursued in three stages:
* Step one will cover removal of contract staff and redeployment of Statoil's own employees.
* The second step will focus on downsizing schemes. These will be determined by the group's specific requirements, and could take the form of early retirement or scholarships/study funding for personnel wanting to retrain for new jobs outside Statoil.
* If the group still has personnel it cannot find jobs for after the first two steps have been completed, selective and specific voluntary redundancy packages will be considered. Compulsory redundancies could ultimately be unavoidable.