Suncor Energy will cut 1,500 jobs as the company’s new CEO announced an immediate plan to cut costs by $400 million by the end of this year.
Rich Kruger briefed staff on the plan in an email Thursday, detailing how the company should cut its staff costs compared to its competitors in the oil slick.
Images of Kruger’s email were shared with Breaking: by company employees.
“Staff reductions will occur at all levels of the organization and will be based on both performance and business needs. As we do this, we are eliminating work, taking a critical look at what we do, why we do it, how we do it and the value that it adds,” Kruger told staff in the message.
“I assure you that such decisions, which affect people and their lives, are not easy to make or are taken lightly. However, at this time they are necessary to ensure the competitiveness of our company,” he said.
In an interview with Breaking: last month after the company’s annual general meeting, Kruger didn’t rule out job cuts, but said there were other ways to cut costs besides layoffs.
Kruger became CEO on April 3, pledging to transform the company into a “simpler and more focused organization” under his leadership.
In an emailed statement, spokesman Sneh Seetal gave no additional details.
“Suncor is always looking for opportunities to generate value and improve the performance of our business. Reducing costs is one of those opportunities,” she said.
The company had 16,558 full-time and part-time employees at the end of 2022, which was down from 16,922 a year earlier, according to company documents.
Approximately 60 percent of Suncor’s employees are associated with the oil sands business.
In February, Suncor announced it earned $2.74 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, a 76 percent increase from the $1.55 billion it earned in the same three months of 2021.
