OIL services giant Wood Group has shed another 2,500 jobs globally since the turn of the year, the company revealed yesterday.

The cuts are in addition to 8,000 job losses last year across the Aberdeen-based business – including 2,000 in the UK.

Plans to cut another 300 onshore jobs in the UK will also add further to the latest tally.

Wood Group made the revelation after telling shareholders at its annual meeting in Aberdeen that market conditions remained challenging and that its underlying profits for 2016 would be down by a fifth, in line with analysts’ expectations.

“These are pretty unprecedented times in terms of the challenge that a mature basin (the North Sea) faces,” said Wood Group chief executive Robin Watson.

“We’re an Aberdeen-headquartered company and it’s very close to home. The current challenges are around activity levels and matching our workforce to meet those activity levels.”

Mr Watson said the company, which employs 36,000 in 50 countries, did not take job losses lightly and aimed to deal with them “quietly, sensitively and professionally.” He pointed out that there were currently 1,000 vacancies across the group, including 500 in the UK, and said the business spent a lot of time trying to match resources and skills with vacancies across the business.

“One important point to make is that we want to be here for the long term and we want our staff to have jobs for the long term,” Mr Watson said. “That’s part and parcel of where the industry is just now. It’s realigning itself, not just from a cost perspective, but also from an activity perspective and what that looks like medium term.”

Mr Watson said tougher proposed pay and conditions for Wood Group workers on Shell’s North Sea platforms, including Brent Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, would bring contract terms in line with those recommended by industry body the Offshore Contractors’ Association (OCA).

“Some of the guys are on more than the OCA minimum, so this is moving back to the OCA minimum level, which is detrimental to them individually in the short term,” he said. “It’s not a step we would take lightly, but it’s an appropriate balance. How do you attempt to ensure that the UK continental shelf remains competitive and keeps employees and skills in the basin? That’s the balance we’re trying to strike, specifically in the Brents.”

Asked about the outlook for the oil price, Mr Watson said it was still more volatile than the company would like.

“Have we seen any activity increase on the back of [the oil price] being largely above $40 a barrel in the last few weeks compared to where it was? The short answer would be no,” he said. “And we’re certainly configuring the business to have a lower oil price for longer.”

Wood Group chairman Ian Marchant told shareholders that further margin pressure and low activity by operators meant the company expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be 20 per cent lower in the year to 31 December 2016 compared to 2015, but that this was in line with current analysts’ expectations.

“Our current focus on reducing costs, improving efficiencies and broadening our service offering through organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions, positions us as a strong and balanced business in both the current environment and for when market conditions recover,” Mr Marchant added.