Aker Solutions said Sept. 1 that about 500 permanent positions at subsea business facilities in Fornebu, Stokke, Moss and Tranby, Norway, might be affected by the need for further job cuts.

Adjustments will be made through normal employee turnover, reassignments to other parts of the company and redundancies, the company added. Per Harald Kongelf, head of Norwegian operations, said declining offshore services activity over the past year makes the job cuts necessary.

The subsea services business in Ågotnes might lose 200 jobs, according to an announcement earlier this year, and about 300 positions might go in the Norwegian maintenance, modifications and operations unit.

Outside of Norway, Aker plans to cut 400 permanent jobs this year, mainly in the subsea sector. There are about 16,000 permanent employees in roughly 20 countries. About 8,000 are in the subsea area, and of that group, about 3,000 are in Norway.