TOTAL, BP Announce Upstream Business Restructuring

France-headquartered Total and UK-based BP announced a restructuring of their upstream businesses in the last 48 hours. The moves reflect the plunge of oil prices.

Total will have five geographic focuses for its exploration and production business.  

"These changes are made with the objective to improve efficiency and adapt to the challenges the group is facing” Total President for Exploration & Production Arnaud Breuillac said in a statement.

Following the death of Christophe de Margerie in October, the company proceeded with several managerial changes. 

The new structure announced on Tuesday seems less focused on Europe, as the Continental Europe and Central Asia division merged with the Northern Europe division to form one single entity headed by Michael Borrell.  

A few hours later, on Wednesday, BP presented its upstream strategy, saying it remains committed to its conventional and deepwater assets. The company expects a major contribution from its gas assets. 

“We have already been working very hard over these past 18 months or so to right-size our organisation as a result of completing more than $43 billion of divestments. We are clearly a more focused business now and, without diverting our attention from safety and reliability, our goal is to make BP even stronger and more competitive” Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley commented, as reported by the company’s website. 

The company expects to incur non-operating restructuring charges of circa $1 billion in total over the next five quarters. 

Italy’s ENI continued with its purchase of treasury shares.