BP to cut jobs and freeze projects amid oil price struggle

Oil giant BP is set to is to axe middle managers and could freeze projects as the firm struggles to come to terms with the plummeting oil price.

"What you'll see with this simplification plan is that headcounts are starting to come down across all of our activities in upstream, downstream and in the corporate centres -- essentially the layers above operations," the group's finance director Brian Gilvary was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times.

Gilvary added the oil price drop was not likely to affect the group's long-term plans but some projects could be delayed or scrapped. "We have got flexibility to trim into next year if that's what we need in a new world of oil at $70 or $60 (a barrel)," he said.