BP has said it is cutting 4,700 jobs across its global workforce and 3,000 contractor roles as part of a cost-saving drive across the company.

       Just over 5% of its 90,000 worldwide employees will have their jobs axed, including an undisclosed amount of BP's 14,000 UK workers.

       Chief executive Murray Auchincloss announced the redundancies in an email to staff, seen by the PA news agency, on Thursday.

       He wrote: "I understand and recognise the uncertainty this brings for everyone whose job may be at risk, and also the effect it can have on colleagues and teams."

       "We have a range of support available, and please continue to show care for each other, be considerate, and keep putting safety first - especially during times of change."

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       BP said the cuts were part of a multi-year plan to make savings across the business, and that there may be more reductions this year and beyond.

       Mr Auchincloss added that the job losses announced on Thursday “account for much of the anticipated reduction this year”.

       He said the company is “focusing resources on our highest-value opportunities” and that it has stopped or paused 30 projects since June 2024.

       The job cuts come as the London-based energy giant shifts its focus to the digital sphere, with artificial intelligence playing a growing role in its engineering and marketing operations.

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       Mr Auchincloss’s memo said that about 2,600 of the contractors involved in the job cuts have already left the business.

       In April last year, Mr Auchincloss announced a plan to make savings of two billion dollars (￡1.6 billion) by the end of 2026.

       The plan is designed partly to reinvigorate the company’s flagging share price, which has fallen about 20% since last spring.

       BP has also pulled back from a number of renewable energy projects, and abandoned a previous plan to cut oil and gas output by 40% by 2030, according to reports.

       Mr Auchincloss continued that the company is still “uniquely positioned to grow value through the energy transition”.

       “But that doesn’t give us an automatic right to win. We have to keep improving our competitiveness and moving at the pace of our customers and society,” he added.