Aberdeen-headquartered energy services firm Wood has confirmed that it has entered into a 30-day consultation period with 66 workers within its Asset Solutions business. The company confirmed it plans to make the workers redundant and said job reductions will be across Wood’s UK offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Darlington and Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.

Wood blamed the current low oil price and market conditions.

The firm said it would implement the UK Government furlough scheme and look to redeploy workers wherever possible.

Wood announced two weeks ago that it would “regrettably” have to consider headcount and salary reductions, alongside temporary furloughing due to the Covid-19 fallout.

A spokesman for Wood said: “In light of the impact of current low oil prices on activity levels, Wood has entered into a 30-day consultation period with employees in the UK regarding the proposed reduction of 66 office-based roles across the Asset Solutions business.

“These reductions are part of a broad series of measures being taken to safeguard the business, including the use of the government job retention scheme where appropriate.

“We are working closely to support impacted employees and remain committed to offering redeployment opportunities where available.”

Wood’s plans to save £32.2million by forcing board members and senior staff to take a 10% cut in base salary.

A further saving of £128m is expected by canceling a dividend payout to shareholders.

Capital expenditure is being cut in some areas to save another £16m – £20m.

The firm’s order book at the end of February was £6.4bn, but said it expects some of that to be postponed and for new order intake to be slower due to the impact of lower prices and Covid-19.