Troubled oil sector likely to see more lay-offs say experts

Last year layoffs in the oil industry affected 22% of the sector's entire work force and according to industry insiders, an end to job cutting measures in the sector is still nowhere in sight. Jaroslaw Krynski of Shell Polska uses Rafineria Gdanska, Poland's second largest refinery, as an example of the country's need to continue with painful lay-offs. He says refineries in Western Europe comparable in size to RG, where about five million tonnes of oil are processed every year, usually employ no more than 300 people. By contrast, RG has 1,522 workers on its payroll. Observers say that neither will PKN Orlen, the country's largest refinery, be spared a reduction in its work force. According to Michal Frackowiak of Nafta Polska there is, however, some hope for those who are eventually deprived of their jobs. He maintains that though the job cuts are unavoidable and will affect the largest companies in Poland's oil sector, at least some of the positions lost will be offset by others arising from openings at servicing companies created by refineries as a result of restructuring. (Puls Biznesu, p.6) A.D.