MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp plans to cut its workforce in Singapore, home to its largest oil refining and petrochemical complex, by about 7% amid the “unprecedented market conditions” resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.
About 300 positions out of 4,000 current jobs will be impacted by the end of 2021, the company said in a statement.
The Singapore layoffs come weeks after Exxon announced its plan to close its 72-year-old Altona refinery in Australia and convert it to an import terminal. The top US oil producer, once America’s most valuable company, posted a historic annual loss for 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic slashed energy demand.
Exxon’s announcement also follows European major Royal Dutch Shell’s decision in November to cut 500 staff and halve its crude processing capacity in Singapore as part of a global strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
Exxon Mobil’s Singapore complex has the capacity to refine about 592,000 barrels per day of oil and includes its biggest integrated petrochemical production site.
The city-state will remain a strategic location for the company, it said.
“This is a difficult but necessary step to improve our company’s competitiveness and strengthen the foundation of our business for future success,” said Geraldine Chin, chairman and managing director, ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.
Last year, Exxon said it remained committed to a multi-billion dollar expansion at the Singapore complex amid an ongoing review of its projects globally.
As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil's recent operational shutdowns include polyethylene (PE) facilities amid power outages prompted by the deep freeze that has enveloped the US Gulf Coast. "This event has caused widespread power outages across Texas and Louisiana" Feb. 15," the letter, dated Feb. 16, said. "As a consequence, several ExxonMobil Chemical operations have experienced loss of power and other key utilities, impacting our ability to resume full operations." ExxonMobil operates three PE units in Mont Belvieu, Texas, with combined capacity of 880,000 mt/year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.
Exxon is among many petrochemical producers that shut Feb. 14 and subsequent days because of sustained extreme sub-freezing temperatures in the region. ExxonMobil previously confirmed Feb. 16 that the company had shut all refining and chemical operations at its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, complexes. Ethylene produced at Baytown feeds the Mont Belvieu PE operations.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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