BP announced Thursday that about half of its roughly 1,500 Alaska employees have accepted a job with Hilcorp, the oil company that’s buying BP’s assets in the state in a $5.6 billion deal.
Another 342 of BP’s Alaska employees say they plan to leave the company on their own with a severance package, and about 150 will continue jobs with BP elsewhere amid the pending sale, BP officials said.
There’s also nearly 300 employees who do not yet have a job lined up, and are on track to receive “involuntary severance packages,” according to Damian Bilbao, a vice president for BP Alaska. BP continues to work closely with those employees to find them jobs, he said.
“We have prioritized respectfully working with our staff to provide them choices through this process,” Bilbao said.
Bilbao described the employment numbers announced Thursday as a snapshot in time. They will change, he said.
The announcement caps months of uncertainty about the fate of BP’s Alaska workforce as the company prepares to exit the state.
Related: As BP exits Alaska, 1,600 employees are waiting to find out what’s next
In late August, BP announced an agreement to sell its entire Alaska business to the Texas-based private oil company Hilcorp for $5.6 billion. The deal includes BP’s stakes in the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field and the trans-Alaska pipeline, plus the rest of its Alaska assets.
It’s Alaska’s biggest oil industry deal in years, and it left hundreds of the state’s BP employees in limbo.
An internal email leaked to reporters in late August revealed the options for BP employees: Apply for jobs with BP outside of Alaska, request to leave BP with a severance package or apply for a job with Hilcorp.
The sale of BP’s Alaska assets to Hilcorp still needs to clear several regulatory hurdles.
The two companies would like the deal to go through by mid-2020, Corri Feige, commissioner of the state’s Department of Natural Resources, said at a meeting this week. But it could take longer.
Related: Lawmakers quiz state regulators on $5.6B Hilcorp, BP deal
Here’s a breakdown of where BP’s Alaska workforce stands as of Thursday.
Of BP roughly 1,500 employees in Alaska:
— About 1,000 employees applied for a job with Hilcorp, 806 received a job offer and 749 have accepted the offer as of Wednesday.
—342 have elected to leave BP and take a severance package.
— About 150 will continue jobs with BP elsewhere.
— Another 294 employees with BP don’t have another job yet, 237 of them are Alaskans.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
