Its geologists, engineers and scientists have been cut to less than 100 from a peak of more than 700 a few years ago, company sources told Reuters, part of a climate change-driven overhaul triggered last year by CEO Bernard Looney. "The winds have turned very chilly in the exploration team since Looney's arrival. This is happening incredibly fast," a senior member of the team told Reuters.
Hundreds have left the oil exploration team in recent months, either transferred to help develop new low-carbon activities or laid off, current and former employees said. The exodus is the starkest sign yet from inside the company of its rapid shift away from oil and gas, which will nevertheless be its main source of cash to finance a switch to renewables for at least the next decade. BP declined to comment on the staffing changes, which have not been publicly disclosed... Looney made his intentions clear internally and externally by lowering BP's production targets and becoming the first oil major CEO to promote this as a positive to investors seeking a long-term vision for a lower-carbon economy.
BP is cutting some 10,000 jobs, around 15% of its workforce, under Looney's restructuring, the most aggressive among Europe's oil giants including Royal Dutch Shell and Total. The 50-year-old, a veteran oil engineer who previously headed the oil and gas exploration and production division, aims to cut output by 1 million barrels per day, or 40%, over the next decade while growing renewable energy output 20 fold.
Elsewhere Reuters reports that due to the pandemic, acquisitions of new onshore and offshore exploration licences for the top five Western energy companies "dropped to the lowest in at least five years," citing data from Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Ideaal campagnemomentje
En dan gaan we nu kijken naar de zoveelste campagnespot van de vvd die is vermomd als mededeling van de demissionaire minister-president. Mark Rutte (bekend van: de avondklok invoeren) reageert live op de Slag bij Eindhoven, de Brand op Urk en de rest van de rellen in het Avondklokland. We zijn benieuwd wat de premier na 'bek houden' en 'oppleuren' nu wel voor archaïsche verwensing in petto heeft.
UPDATE: "Crimineel geweld." Mwah.
De Urker variant van debiliteit is ernstig besmettelijk. Dat concluderen virologen nadat vannacht in zeker tien gemeenten mensen zich als een inwoner van Urk hebben gedragen.
“We hebben de Urker variant van debiliteit al waargenomen in steden als Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Enschede en Roermond”, zegt viroloog Marion Koopmans. De snelle verspreiding baart haar zorgen. “Als dit zo doorgaat is binnen twee weken iedereen in Nederland besmet.”
Bert Slagter van het Red Team slaakt een diepe zucht. “Na de gebeurtenissen in Urk zeiden we al meteen: kom met een inreisverbod. Er werd niet naar ons geluisterd. Nu is het te laat.”
Kevin Rheese has added a photo to the pool:
A colonial dilemma.
Australia was claimed for England by Captain James Cook on the basis of the legal principle: "terra nullius", that the land was uninhabited.
Trouble is, the land had already been occupied for the last 65 thousand years. And the cultural traditions of those inhabitants did not include any recognition of the British legal system.
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip.
The new arrivals had guns, First Nations inhabitants only had spears. 'Australia Day' is alternatively referred to by some as 'Invasion Day'.
What could be wrong when two UPSes commit seppuku?
Who, Me? Welcome to an electrifying edition of The Register's regular Who, Me? feature in which a reader rues the day he decided to trust the electrician.…