Shell to restructure, thousands of jobs affected

AMSTERDAM: Royal Dutch Shell PLC said on Wednesday it plans a major reorganization to simplify its corporate structure and that it will shed an unspecified number of jobs as a result.

``Thousands of staff will be impacted,'' said spokesman Shaun Wiggins, referring to both job cuts and employees being asked to change location.

He said it was impossible to say how many of Shell's 102,000 jobs would be lost but said the 2,000 employees at Shell's headquarters in The Hague would be strongly affected.

The biggest changes in the company's structure are the merging of three production divisions into two, and the creation of a technology division that will be responsible for developing new projects.

The company's oil, liquid natural gas and oil sands production arms will be merged into two divisions by geography: one for the Americas and one for the rest of the world.

The changes come as Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer retires on July 1, to be replaced by former Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser.

The reorganization is intended to create a ``simpler structure, more accountability, faster implementation of decisions and strategy,'' Wiggins said.

The head of Shell's liquid natural gas division, Linda Cook, resigned abruptly Tuesday. The company gave no reason at the time, but under the restructuring unveiled Wednesday, the arm she headed will be eliminated.