Energy giant blames persistently low Brent crude price for major reduction in exploration and production jobs but has no plans to close any UK oil rigs
BP is cutting one in five jobs at its North Sea operations as the oil price threatens to fall below $30 a barrel.
The British oil and gas group is laying off 600 people in Scotland in a cost-cutting drive that will involve 4,000 employees axed worldwide. The redundancies are taking place against the backdrop of a slumping oil price, which has hit industry profits and forced producers to shelve projects around the world worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Related: Oil price forecast to fall to $20 a barrel, predicts Morgan Stanley