Tullow Oil convenes emergency meeting ‘over possible layoff’

Workers walk past storage tanks at Tullow Oil's Ngamia 8 drilling site in Lokichar, Turkana County, Kenya, February 8, 2018. The picture taken on February 8, 2018. [Reuters]

Tullow Group has summoned its employees for an emergency meeting to discuss the restructuring of the company which may lead to the dismissal of some workers whose roles will be found to be redundant.

In a redundancy notice served by the company’s managing director Martin Mbogo, the company said that it has embarked on reviewing its business operations and financial performance pursuant to a meeting held at Town Hall on Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

It notes that there are factors prompting its restructuring. One of them highlighted is the wage bill that it is trying to keep at a sustainable level.

“These factors have affected the ability of the Company to continue sustaining the human resource wage bill. Resultantly, it is now inevitable that there may be job losses and redundancies at all levels and cadres of our organization,” notice partly states.

The Company says that the notice is in conformity with section 40 of the Employment Act 2007. Also, in adherence to the law, Tullow Group states that it has informed the Labour offices of its plan and the probable consequences.

It has therefore called on employees to come for a meeting to discuss measures to solve the problem of redundancy, which may spur layoff.

It adds: “The Company invites all employees for consultations in an effort to explore any measures that can be taken to mitigate the effects of redundancy. Should the conclusion be reached to regrettably declare some positions redundant, then it will be implemented in accordance with employees’ respective contracts employment, the employment laws, and the relevant Company policies.”

Some of the job cadres that can be affected include expatriate, national, contract, fixed term and permanent.

The company, however, reassures those who may be affected by the decision that they will be entitled to payments such as salaries up to the termination date, redundancy severance package and much more.

Tullow Group, which is a partner with the Kenyan government in the extraction and exportation of oil in Turkana has had mixed fortunes in the market.

On December 9, 2019, a British media outlet the Government Business Review reported that the Kenyan government wanted a meeting with a new company’s leadership to discuss Turkana oil fields and its business.

On the same day, the GBR revealed that the British-based company suffered market value in the London Stock Exchange, a grim fortune which was attributed to its negative financial position and low investor confidence.

The media further reported that the CEO Tullow Oil Paul McDade and Exploration Director Angus McCoss were put to task over the dwindling fate of the company by the board.

Dubbed Project Oil Kenya, the partnership between Kenya and Tullow Group is meant to drill an estimated 321 oil wells in three of the ten fields.