Oil giant Chevron is to cut 225 jobs in Aberdeen as it reorganises its North Sea operations.

The US firm said employees, contractors and expatriate workers will be affected.

It has been reported that workers found out about the job losses at a staff meeting held in Aberdeen yesterday.

In a statement Chevron said: "Chevron Upstream Europe (CUE) is reorganising its business unit in Aberdeen. CUE has previously conducted periodic organisational reviews to ensure alignment with its portfolio and provide the flexibility to allow the company to leverage other growth opportunities in the North Sea.

"As a result of the review, CUE expects reductions of approximately 225 positions, which will include contractors, employees and expatriates.

"We are hoping to reduce the number of redundancies through other global opportunities for employees, repatriating expatriates, et cetera, so the exact number of redundancies is unknown."

California-based Chevron produces oil and gas from the Captain, Britannia and Alba fields.

The company said it will continue to invest in other North Sea projects including the development of the Rosebank field north-west of the Shetland Islands.

Discovered in 2004, Rosebank is estimated to contain the equivalent of 240 million barrels of recoverable oil.