ENGIE shakes up staff to adapt to new market

PARIS, May 4 (UPI) -- French energy company ENGIE announced Wednesday it shook up its front-office staff in an effort to revamp the company to align with emerging market trends.

CEO Isabelle Kocher set up a new team of senior managers and established a new organizational structure in order to meet the goal of cutting net costs by $1.15 billion within the next three years.

"ENGIE has launched an ambitious transformation plan whose objective, within three years, is to redesign the group's contours in light of the energy revolution that is transforming our markets," the company said in its announcement.

Energy companies are cutting staff and spending plans to cope with the pressure of lower crude oil prices, which are about 25 percent less than last year despite major recovery in April. The market is also experiencing a shift toward renewable energy alternatives, with European bodies setting key portfolio benchmarks for the end of this decade.

This week, ENGIE said it set a corporate objective of cutting carbon emissions by 20 percent while building a portfolio containing 25 percent renewable energy. Corporate revenue, meanwhile, fell 14 percent year-on-year to $21.8 billion for the period ending March 31.

Renewable energy accounted for about 18 percent of total ENGIE production capacity last year.

The company changed its name from GDF Suez last year to reflect what it said was a sign of the "profound" transformation underway in the global energy sector, characterized by decarbonization and development of renewable energy resources.