Our business transformation continues with a reorganization of our business in Europe, centralizing the majority of EU employees at key locations

The changes being announced are intended to: help make our European business competitive and efficient for the future; reflect the evolving needs of our business and the importance of the European market; bring our people closer together; and deliver value to our shareholders.  

In Belgium, we plan to build a brand-new purpose-built office at our Antwerp refinery, where we’ll bring most Brussels-based employees together. The new site will also be home to our new European Technology Centre. Retaining a technology center in Europe, close to European markets, is a significant investment and positions us well for the future.

Likewise, across the region we plan to bring the majority of our office and home-based employees together at or closer to our manufacturing sites in the region (including, for example, in Germany and Italy) and we intend to close a number of smaller offices in the region.

ExxonMobil has invested more than €20bn in Europe since 2010; however, the region is currently a less attractive prospect for our global investments. Regulations in the EU are more burdensome than in other parts of the world and drive up costs, making it more difficult to compete for capital investments in our portfolio. Regulatory complexity and excessive red tape require companies to dedicate even more resources to compliance. We have been open with policymakers on this issue.

ExxonMobil Europe President Philippe Ducom said: “We’re proud of our 135-year history in Europe. The European market is important to us, and we will continue to have a meaningful presence here. The business and regulatory environment in Europe is challenging and this transformation will help us compete into the future.”

This series of proposed changes is expected to result in fewer positions here. We anticipate a reduction of approximately 1,200 positions across the EU and Norway by the end of 2027, including around 600 redundancies. Our total current workforce here is approximately 7,000 people. This excludes our workforce in France, which, as announced previously, will be subject to a divestment later this year.

Country-specific impacts will depend on the company’s local business footprint and market conditions. Proposed changes are subject to local information and consultation processes as applicable in each country.

The plan is consistent with our evolving global business strategy.