This is the story of an engineer working for statoil and my experience. Just to be clear, Im not speaking on behalf of statoil but just sharing my opinions on the oil industry.
Statoil is a great company to work for. They are mostly owned by the norwegian government at around 2/3 stake, but operate as an independent company. They are a prime example of how a government should run a state company. And they are at this time critical for the prosperity of the norwegian society. Some claim Norway is only rich because of its oil reserves.
In these troubling times where oil prices have taken a plunge from $120 just 2 years ago and now hovering around $40-50 it really makes it difficult for many in the oil industry to survive. Thousands have lost their jobs, some have been reported to commit suicide. And how is Statoil dealing with it?
Statoil has reduced some of its employees but at the same time have so far managed to do it on a voluntary basis. They have created a culture of cost savings, and everyone has taken some of the burden. Now they are planning for the future in a low oil price environment.