I have heard two conflicting news about reorg
One bookend is we are ring fenced until the end of our assignment and the other bookend is all expats are in scope with a desire to bring the numbers down dramatically
May be these two bookends are for all expats. Does anyone have any insights? Should we tighten our belts just before Xmas?
Many of the expats are cheerleaders rather than being effective at their own job
All smoke and mirrors, relationship with decision makers and attending the right networking events and strive to be MARC'd.
I have seen very veey very few and far in between of people who really add value to the bottomline.
$8/bbl is far fetched especially with the leadership on the north side of the 4th floor. They didn't get there with pre-covid contract rates and minimal ops and people in country.
But yes, expats are in scope and this is a perfect time to get rid of bad managers.
Let's be realistic many expats are parked in sasbu and they play musical chairs from country to country....many from BUs that have been divested or are now non operated.
Agree about expat musical chairs with elimination and consolidation of roles
Thing about Angola expats is the visas take the better part of a year to process. Therefore it doesn’t not make sense financially to simply replace an expat (with another out of country expat). In fact when a new job has come up in SASBU priority has been given to someone who already has a visa compared to actual competency of the person.
That said you bet you @$$ expats are in scope. SASBU is trying to reduce lifting cost to 8 bucks a barrel. No new factory projects and announcements that national employees will go through a ROM with number of positions cut….
So expensive expat (especially those with high PSG) a no brainer. You can be replaced by a national or a lower PSG. Also SASBU is cutting numbers by the eliminating rotational jobs (both expat and national) and moving them to Luanda. This will drive natural attrition which is exactly what they are hoping for to soften the blow.
Chevron have put almost all incompetent ones in Angola. Not all but 95%. They are mostly selected either by connections or they have no place else to go. I am one of them and I am not proud of being here surrounded by id--ts who think that they are far better than the locals just because they knew how to play the Chevron game.
The pay is the best at Chevron now and may be in the world as no other American will have such a great tax treatment and uplift anywhere else except Nigeria may be. I was rotating in Tengiz and I thought I was doing very well until I came here on a residential assignment. Dope ...
So as long as the locals do not make any noise about us, I think we are safe but this does not mean we are the best or even deserve it to be perfectly honest.
To the person on here that thinks expats are okay, you are mistaken.
Expats are back to or exceeding pre-covid levels.
Is it near 200 now?
The axeman commeth. I agree. Get our while the getting's good.
Heads will roll. Tighten up your resumes, ladies and gents.
There will be deep cuts in SASBU for expats and locals. If you look at the 5yr horizon, no other factory project is funded and rigs will eventually leave. With minimal projects that means reduced Capex (the global trend), no new barrels, managed decline, etc.
SASBU is 4th Quartile compared to other operators in region.
If you aren't close to well head, might want to start updating Workday and Talent Card
There are no longer large number of expat positions to “cut dramatically”, that low hanging fruit has been picked
Expats were cut dramatically in previous reorgs. I’d expect the same again this time. New leaders will also want to insert their own people into the few expat jobs that remain so you may be recalled and replaced even if the expat role still exists.
1/2 of the people (expats) were ring fenced in 2015 in Angola. 2020 even smaller number ring fenced. My guess would be some individuals will be “key” and not have to “participate”, but it will be a small number.
Not a good time to be an Expat if you are not part of the good ol boys traveling crew. Just a bad scenario all around.
Angola expats (going either way) have a long, but unfortunately, unproductive history. US expats to Angola work 12-hour days to make up for what the locals can't or won't do. Nobody stays in Angola more than one assignment, unless they really covet that pay premium. They come back burned out and find their peers have leap-frogged ahead of them in technical and career development. Usually this means they end up as "managers" in CTC, or in PDC roles or Training or some other low-impact position. Angola expats to the US find out their technical heat map is quite cold, and struggle to do remedial training the whole time they're stateside. If they do advance, they go back into roles similar to what US expats do (see above).
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Expats are very expensive. Everyone knows that expats from the US basically run the operations in the country they're assigned to. Expats coming to the US are basically on vacation and go back with no new knowledge or experience.
Angolans were here to learn and take it back to their country. Instead they are heading off to MIT and other schools on the company. Time to go back to the wellhead or be gone.
Unless your a hi-pot or chosen one then as an expat your in scope for layoffs.
Expat assignments are very expensive and are being reserved only for "future leaders".