British oil giants hit by price plunge

British oil company BP Thursday confirmed that it will cut 200 jobs and 100 contractor roles following a review of its North Sea operations.

This is not an isolated case as the dismal oil market has set back energy companies' investment plans.

Most of BP's cuts will be onshore, and staff at the company's North Sea headquarters in Aberdeen have been briefed about the plans, the BBC reported,

The oil company currently employs around 3,500 people in the North Sea. Last December, the company announced a major restructuring plan in response to the oil price drop.

On Wednesday, however, Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil giant, said that it has abandoned plans for one of the world's biggest petrochemical plants, a 6.5 billion U.S. dollars joint venture project with Qatar Petroleum.

Premier Oil, a Britain-based oil company, also said that it would delay a final decision on whether to proceed with its Sea Lion project until the oil price recover. The project valued at around 2 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Premier Oil has cut rates of pay for contractors and other freelance workers engaged in projects in the North Sea and Southeast Asia, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Brent benchmark oil futures price slumped to about 46 dollars a barrel earlier this week from around 115 dollars last summer. Endit