Shell to cut UK IT jobs, outsource to India

The problems at international oil giant Shell look set to impact the UK IT market. Shell, which has been under fire recently as a result of the admission by senior management that the company had vastly overstated its oil reserves in recent years, has now announced that it intends to cut its international IT operations budget by up to one third by 2006 by measures that will include outsourcing some of its IT functions to India.

A report in The Times today (see here: The Times article) states that the plans could affect several hundred of the 1000 IT jobs in Shell's UK operations. Worldwide Shell has around 9300 IT staff and Shell's worldwide IT budget runs around £475 million.

A Shell spokesman, confirming that IT would be outsourced to India is reported as saying:

"This is not just about cutting jobs. It is about looking at how we can improve efficiency by streamlining various systems and infrastructure."