(Recast) Norway's oil sector cuts 40,000 jobs since early 2014

About 40,000 work positions have been cut in Norway's oil industry since Jan. 1, 2014, as many companies in the sector had to downsize workforce over the past couple of years, online business newspaper E24 reported on Tuesday.

According to a recent analysis made by the investment bank DNB Markets, the numbers as per April 22 this year showed 35,000 fewer work positions in the oil sector, which means at least 5,000 job cuts have been made or announced in the last six months.

Marius Gonsholt Hov, senior economist in the investment bank Handelsbanken Capital Markets, emphasized that DNB Markets' overview is a gross tally and he was not very surprised with the numbers.

"These figures show the number of laid-off workers and do not include those that are back to work. The fact that there are removed jobs of this magnitude is not particularly surprising considering the downturn we have been in the supplier industry," he said.

Gonsholt Hov also expressed belief that net employment in oil sector would continue to drop.

Many oil companies had to downsize workforce, not only once, but several times in the last couple of years, E24 wrote.

One of the oil companies that have announced a significant downsizing is Beerenberg that cut 250 jobs in October this year. A similar downsizing had already happened a month before that and the company is now considering new cuts for the next six months.

According to the DNB Markets report, Beerenberg cuts 900 jobs in total during the oil crisis.

Another company that has also announced cuts several times is National Oilwell Varco (NOV), which has sent away 2,585 employees since the beginning of 2014. In September it was published that the company is estimating new cuts in the coming period.

The company that cut the biggest number of jobs is Aker Solutions, where 3,270 positions were cancelled. Statoil is on the second place with 3,023 job cuts.

Many petroleum engineers who have lost their jobs are members of the trade unions Nito and Tekna. In the unions they have expressed worry that the final round of downsizing had not happened yet.

"We still receive announcements about downsizing and layoffs and, although is happening in somewhat slower rhythm, we still do not see a sign that this is finished," Tekna leader Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg told E24. Endit