The Anglo-Dutch operator has now decided to lay off 145 workers, with another 110 hired-in personnel also to be dismissed, Norwegian news site Sysla Offshore reported.

However, there is the prospect of further job losses after the number of applications for a voluntary redundancy package fell short of its target.

As a result, affected employees were now being told they no longer had positions in the new organisation being formed after Shell’s recent $47 billion acquisition of the UK’s BG Group, according to a company spokesman.

US-based