Oil services giant NOV is to slash around a third of its Tayside workforce as it looks to cut costs.
The Houston-headquartered major is consulting over a total of 88 redundancies within its rig aftermarket division.
The bulk of the job losses are likely to come at the firm’s long-standing Forties Road re-manufacturing site in Montrose.
However, the division also established offices at West Pitkerro Industrial Estate in Dundee in the summer of 2014.
In total 300 NOV workers have entered the redundancy consultation process.
Documents seen by The Courier state the company had suffered “reduced demand” over the past 18 months as the sector went through a “difficult time”.
The timeframe coincides with the sustained drop in the global oil price from more than $100 per barrel to around $40.
“As part of our response to these challenges, the company has been reviewing our costs and where possible have been making changes,” a letter to employees signed by Richard Heslop, NOV’s Montrose-based director of service and repair UK and Sub Sahara said.
“As part of the review of costs and our utilisation within our business, we acknowledge that the biggest fixed cost and most utilisation affecting area that we have is related to our number of employees.
“We therefore regret to announce that the company feels it has no option but to propose a redundancy exercise within NOV Rig Aftermarket.
“Additionally, we will be consulting with some departments’ employees over terms and conditions of employment, those affected will be notified separately.
“It has been very difficult for the company to have to make such proposals but we believe we have exhausted all other measures prior to embarking on this course of action.”
This is just the latest blow to the North Sea oil and gas sector with major operators already having cut thousands of jobs.
The Courier made repeated requests for comment from NOV on Wednesday but none was forthcoming.