(Calgary) Suncor Energy will cut 1,500 jobs by the end of the year, as its new president and CEO, Rich Kruger, continues his efforts to cut expenses and improve the company’s financial performance.
Employees learned the news Thursday afternoon in an email signed by Mr. Kruger, company spokeswoman Sneh Seetal said.
She confirmed that these job cuts are new and not part of the company’s previously announced plan to reduce the size of its contractors by 20%.
“As a company, we needed to make changes that will strengthen the future of our business model, which includes our overall cost structure,” Ms. Seetal explained in an interview with The Canadian Press.
The spokeswoman added that the 1,500 jobs eliminated will be spread across the organization and will affect both employees and contractors.
The cuts announced Thursday represent about 9% of the 16,558 employees Suncor said it had at the end of 2022.
Suncor has come under pressure from its shareholders to improve its financial and stock market performance, which has lagged behind its competitors.
The company has also come under fire for a recent string of operational issues and workplace safety incidents, including several fatalities.
Earlier this spring, Mr. Kruger was pressured to come out of retirement to take the reins of Suncor and try to fix the oil sands giant’s financial situation.
In an interview with La Presse Canadienne in May, Kruger declined to say whether the financial tightening measures would include layoffs. Still, he hinted that he intended to “look hard and hard at people’s work” to make sure that everything that is done in the business adds value to the bottom line.
Ms. Seetal, the company’s spokeswoman, declined to say whether the bulk of the layoffs would take place at the Calgary headquarters or in the field.
Suncor employs people across the country, as well as in the United States and abroad.
Ms. Seetal, however, assured that Suncor is committed to treating its employees with dignity and respect throughout what will inevitably be a difficult process.
She also stressed that the company would not make any reductions that could affect worker safety.
In the first quarter of 2023, Suncor made a profit of 2.05 billion. On an adjusted basis, Suncor’s first-quarter profit was $1.81 billion, down 34% year-over-year.