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LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Oil services company Acergy (ACGY) plans to cut jobs in Norway and the U.K. due to falling investment by oil and gas companies, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
"We are starting a round of consultation with staff in the U.K., both onshore and offshore, and will start a dialogue with the unions in Norway," with a view to cutting staff, Acergy spokesman Derek Massie told Dow Jones Newswires.
Massie added that "less than 90" personnel will be affected in its U.K. workforce, but he was unable to give a figure for Norwegian personnel until talks with the unions have started.
Acergy employs about 700 staff in the U.K. and Norway combined, he said.
Earlier Tuesday, the sister publication of Upstreamonline, Norwegian financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv reported Acergy's regional Vice President for Northern Europe and Canada Oyvind Mikaelsen as saying: "Due to the huge level of reductions in investments from oil companies, we currently have too much staff."
The company is a subsea engineering and construction contractor for oil and gas companies. "We are not the only ones who will have to make cuts. The industry has come to a stop. I understand that oil companies have to make some adjustments, but with the oil price currently around $74 a barrel it is strange that they do not see [investment] opportunities," Mikaelsen reportedly said.
Acergy's second-quarter revenue tumbled to $525.5 million from $705.6 million in the same quarter of 2008 and said at that time its business environment was challenging, short-term visibility poor and clients were delaying projects.
Company Web site: www.acergy-group.com
-By Elizabeth Adams, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9386; elizabeth.adams@dowjones.com