Norway’s independent oil firm Aker BP will lay off some employees and contractors after deciding to postpone some projects and exploration wells due to the oil price crash and coronavirus-related disruptions.

“We announced today that there will be a reduction in numbers of employees and contractors due to reduced activities. We’ve already announced that some projects be postponed and exploration wells deferred,” company spokesman Ole Johan Faret said.

“We are starting negotiations with the unions about potential numbers and will have more details after Easter,” Faret said.

Aker BP, 30% owned by BP, said on March 23 it would cut its planned 2020 capital spending by 20% but kept its production guidance unchanged.

Faret said Aker BP was still working to detail the spending cuts, but one of 10 planned exploration wells to be postponed was the Stangnestind well in the Barents Sea in the Arctic.

The company had more than 1,700 employees and about 600 contractor workers at the end of 2019.