Oil giant BP has announced a round of staff cuts in response to fears of tumbling oil prices.
The company said 4000 crude production roles will be cut this year, and announcement that came after the doom and gloom prediction by RBS that oil could drop as low as $16 per barrel.
Crude oil prices have fallen by 20 per cent already in 2016, now down to $US30.76 per barrel.
The Brent benchmark dropped by 35 per cent during 2015, during which time BP already slashed 4000 positions.
Bloomberg reported that BP had 84,500 employees worldwide at the end of 2014.
Over the past 9 months BP shares have dropped 31 per cent on the London Stock Exchange.