OMV Petrom notified the Prahova County Labor Force Agency of its decision to lay off 3,000 employees at the national level, Romanian news agency NewsIn informs. According to sources within the company, the lay offs will affect at least 2,700 employees from the exploration and production sector and the rest from the refinery sector.

Employees will leave starting February 1, 2009 and will be offered compensatory salaries, NewsIn informs. A Labor Force Agency spokesperson declared that the company would inform the authorities of the exact number of people to be made redundant.

He added that there are another 23 companies expected to make some 3,165 employees redundant in the upcoming period.