In the latest to announce staff cuts in offshore Norwegian drilling contactor Songa Offshore plans to close down its offices in Aberdeen and South Korea, and cut its headcount by 200.

In a move that Songa said was to transform it from a largely projects based organisation to an optimized operating one Songa said it planned to axe 76 onshore staff and 124 contractors.

The company said it planned to close its offices in Aberdeen and South Korea, centralizing functions in Norway, and the job and contractor cuts would come largely from those two locations along with Stavanger.

“The process will also include a rightsizing of the operating and staff organisations in Cyprus, Stavanger, Oslo and Bergen,” it added.

The company said it expects to save $30m a year through the cuts.

"This is a very important and necessary adjustment of our organisation to secure Songa Offshore's competitiveness and sustainability in an extremely challenging drilling market", said Songa ceo Bjørnar Iversen.