Although there are signs that gasoline demand is starting to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Canadian-based refiner Irving Oil announced on Wednesday that it would lay off 6% of its global workforce, according to a statement on the company’s website.

The job cuts will affect 250 workers in Canada, the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

“The challenges that we face in our business and our industry are unlike any we have ever experienced. Like many other organizations, we hoped to avoid this outcome as we worked hard to keep our business secure through the extreme challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement read.

Irving Oil operates Canada’s largest refinery—the St. John refinery in New Brunswick, capable of processing 320,000 bpd of crude oil. Half of the refinery’s finished product is exported to the Northeastern United States.

Irving Oil’s St. John refinery is the expected recipient of the very first VLCC oil shipment from the United States to Canada, set to arrive on July 13, S&P Global Platts reported today.

Irving Oil also operates Ireland’s only refinery.

Irving oil is just one more oil and gas company that has had to utilize layoffs and job terminations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has sapped demand for crude oil and refined products.

BP is cutting 10,000 workers, while Chevron announced it would give between 10% and 15% of its workforce the ax. 6,700. Oilfield services were also hit, with job cuts or furloughs from Halliburton and Schlumberger. Altogether, nearly 85,000 workers in the oilfield services industry alone have lost their jobs due to the oil price crash and demand destruction courtesy of the coronavirus.

Some oil and gas companies had started to make job cuts even prior to the coronavirus or oil price way, including Occidental Petroleum and Apache.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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