Salary cuts of up to 10 per cent are being implemented by oilsands miner Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. for staff in Calgary and Aberdeen, Scotland, the company confirmed Wednesday.
In a brief statement in response to a Herald inquiry, the company thanked its more than 7,600 workers for “notable gains” in efficiency but said the pay cuts were necessary because of low oil prices and the “current fiscal and regulatory challenges.”
“In this environment, Canadian Natural is taking additional actions to further reduce costs and to protect the robustness of the company by implementing a salary reduction of up to 10 per cent for all Calgary and Aberdeen staff,” said the statement from spokeswoman Julie Woo. “The salary reduction is higher for higher salaried individuals.”
It was unclear how many staff are being affected, nor did the company say how much in total it expects to save.
Earlier this year, the company said members of its management committee and directors would take a 10 per cent pay cut, while vice-presidents’ salaries would fall five per cent. Woo said the recent additional cuts would also apply to those people.
Last month, it further reduced its 2015 capital spending budget by $245 million to $5.5 billion. It was originally set at about $8.6 billion.
In a research note Friday, analyst Nick Lupick of AltaCorp Capital said Canadian Natural is realizing big cost savings on its Horizon oilsands mine expansions, expected to add 125,000 barrels of oil per day by 2017, and is planning to sell its royalty business this year. He suggested the company may be able to increase its dividend payouts to investors heading into 2016.