Statoil Ireland has announced plans for redundancies among its 250 head-office and backroom staff.

Company management informed staff yesterday that it was seeking voluntary redundancies across its distribution, development and head-office personnel.

Statoil also announced that two directors of the Irish operation, along with a number of senior managers, will be leaving the group over the next few months.

It is understood that the company is seeking at least 25 redundancies, although some staff said the number could eventually be closer to 100. A spokesman for the company said it would announce the terms of the redundancy programme on Monday.

Apart from the departures, a number of staff are relocating to Statoil's Norwegian headquarters. These include one senior manager who has been a key member of the team that developed the Fareplay forecourt convenience store concept.

Ireland has been the first Statoil operation to roll out the Fareplay franchise, and it is understood the parent company is looking to extend it through other parts of its global network.

In a statement last night, the company said it was restructuring its Irish business as part of ongoing efforts to maintain "a leadership position in a highly competitive market space".

The changes will see a reduction in both senior and middle management numbers, the company said.

"Our focus and resolve is not changing," Statoil Ireland managing director Mr Tony Murray said last night. "Statoil is one of the few among our major competitors that maintains management authority for our business here in Ireland."

Responding to suggestions that the company intended to relocate management of its Irish operations to Norway, Mr Murray said: "Our shareholder is fully committed to maintaining that local control and we have every intention of developing our business and maintaining its competitiveness for all our customers."

Industry sources said there was no surprise at the decision of Statoil to cut numbers.

"Statoil would have been seen as a bit of a Rolls Royce of the trade in Ireland," said one source. "They are very labour intensive vis-a-vis the companies they are competing with and those companies have had ongoing redundancy programmes in recent times."

Margins are tightening throughout the industry as competition grows, and this year's rise in the price of oil has exacerbated this due to the lag time between price increases hitting the fuel companies and being passed on to customers.

"Statoil is going to have to become more of a Mini than a Rolls Royce," said the industry source.