SHELL TO AXE 1,000

OIL firm Shell has announced 1,000 jobs are to go in a bid to save $1billion a year.

The cuts come on top of 600 redundancies already announced by the Anglo-Dutch giant.

But bosses gave no word on where the axe would fall. The losses were revealed on the day £83bn of investment over five years was unveiled under ambitious new growth plans.

Shell plans to drive production up by 11% to 3.5million barrels a day by 2012 after seven years of decline.

Chief executive Peter Voser said the company is also assessing investment prospects in 35 projects, potentially
containing 8billion barrels of oil, to sustain growth to 2020 and beyond.

Key opportunities lie in the Gulf of Mexico, Australia and North America, while immediate improvements will come from ramping up gas production in Qatar and oil in Brazil.

The shares rose 26½p to 1856½p on the news.

Small Voser pledged “continuous improvement” on costs.

The company is also selling refineries and plans to shut petrol stations in 35 markets around the world where it believes its presence is too small.

It says it is still committed to the UK though. Vosser, who took over last year, said: “We are sharpening up.

“Shell had become too complicated, and slower than I’d like, and working on too many areas and options.”

Shell’s update came as its annual report revealed former executive Linda Cook received a $7.6million serverance payment as the company restructured.

Voser’s pay has been frozen until 2011.

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