British oil giant BP Plc said it plans to cut 3 percent of jobs in exploration and production, as part of a restructuring of its global upstream business to make the division more efficient and competitive. A BP spokesman said the cuts of around 540 jobs from the company’s 18,000-strong total upstream workforce will be carried out by the end of the year. The move is part of an ongoing process to simplify the company’s structure and increase efficiency, following the $50 billion worth of divestments over recent years, BP said in a statement. It did not comment on any possible cost savings associated with the redundancies. BP held out the prospect of a first dividend increase since 2014, after first-quarter profits beat forecasts earlier this […]