British Petroleum (BP) is firing up to 300 employees from its office in Melbourne, Australia. The sacked workers comprise about 24 per cent of the total 1,250 staff in Melbourne, although across Australia, BP has 7,500 workers.

A BP spokesman said employees at the oil giant's two refineries in Western Australia and Queensland would not be affected by the job cuts.

The employees who would lose their jobs will be informed by March, the spokesman said, stressing that the workforce reduction only aims to make the company more competitive and should not be taken as BP withdrawing its commitment to the Australian oil and gas market.

"The market for transport fuels in Australia - unlike the market for Europe and the US - is growing, basically on the strength of the economy and the demand," The Herald Sun quoted the BP spokesman.

"It's a growth market - we want to get a bigger market share, but our cost base is too high and we need to tackle that. We need to get a bit smarter and a bit quicker on out feet," he added.

British Petroleum is the company behind the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, one of the many black marks in BP's history. This commercial cartoon was made by Greenwash, a pro-environment group, noting the other shortcomings of the oil and gas giant.

YouTube/Bret Malley

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