WASHINGTON, Oct 22 — Global oil giant ExxonMobil will release details soon of expected job cuts in the United States and Canada, the company’s chief Darren Woods said in a letter to employees.

"As difficult as this is, I hope you understand it is critically important for the future of our company,” Woods said in a statement yesterday.

"Making the organisation more efficient and more nimble will reduce the number of required positions and, unfortunately, reduce the number of people we need,” he said in the letter that summarized the discussion at an employee forum in Houston.

Following job cuts announced for Europe and Australia, he said the company is "very close” to completing the review of operations in North America and other parts of the world.

He said the company is wrestling with the "devastating impact” of the pandemic that caused a severe drop in demand for energy: oil demand dropped 20 per cent amid a collapse in travel.

And despite cost cutting measures the company still faces "significant headwinds.”

ExxonMobil, which employs 75,000 workers worldwide, has suffered a sharp decline in value that accelerated during the pandemic, and was recently overtaken on Wall Street by renewable energy firm NextEra. — AFP