Royal Dutch Shell will announced 2,000 job cuts from its global workforce, taking the total tally of losses to 12,500 from 2015 to 2016 as it pulls out all stops to "upstream business" amid the collapse in oil prices. The oil giant hints that there's going to be 5,000 more Shell layoffs at North Sea as profits plummet. Shell job cuts are in response to the price of oil staying " lower for longer ," and as a result of the recent BG Group tie-up, said Paul Goodfellow, Shell's vice president for the UK and Ireland. " These are tough times for our industry ," Goodfellow wrote in the emailed statement. " We have to take further difficult decisions to ensure Shell remains competitive through the current, prolonged downturn ." Like other oil and gas companies, Shell has been hammered by the damage being inflicted on the industry by plummeting crude prices. It has been axing jobs and spending over the last two years to catch up with global oil prices since Ben van Beurden took over as Shell chief executive.