Centrica to cut Aberdeen workforce by 25

Scottish Gas owner Centrica has revealed that it is cutting 25 jobs in Aberdeen as it reduces its exploration and production division in the city.

The energy giant told The Scotsman that this means the number of its staff based in the Granite City in its oil and gas business now sits at just over 310, while it is laying off a further 24 staff at its operations in Morecambe Bay.

A Centrica spokesman said: “After a full consultation with our people, we have taken the difficult but necessary decision to reduce the number of roles in our exploration and production team.

“We want to maximise the potential of our North Sea and Morecambe Bay assets, and over several months have been working hard to find new ways of operating and finalising the structure of our business to make that happen.

“We recognise that this represents difficult news for our employees who may be affected. Our priority now is to support all those impacted.”

Centrica last month announced that it had stemmed the flow of domestic customers switching suppliers and boosted its annual earnings outlook.

Iain Conn, Centrica’s chief executive, said at the time: “Our performance in the second half of the year has been strong and we expect to exceed our 2016 targets.”

He had added in the trading update that its team had “performed very well in extremely difficult circumstances”, and stated: “We have made considerable progress in reshaping our portfolio and capabilities to deliver a robust platform for customer-focused growth.” 0 Centrica is headed by chief executive Iain Conn