BP plc, whose largest operations are in North America, is freezing the base pay across its group this year, CEO Bob Dudley said Monday.

“The tougher external environment in 2015 means that our businesses and functions need to work,” requiring the company “to take a number of measures in response to the harsh trading environment,” Dudley said in an internal message to staff that was confirmed.

“One of the measures we are taking across the group is a general freeze to base pay for 2015, with only a few exceptions for specific circumstances around the world.”

BP employed close to 84,000 people in 2013. Including salaries, pensions and benefits, the payroll totaled more than $13 billion.

The United States is BP’s top global economic priority, where it has 18,000 employees and nearly 200,000 additional workers that it supports across the supply chain (see Daily GPI, Jan. 7). BP’s domestic economic impact in the United States is estimated at $143 billion.

About 300 layoffs were announced earlier this month, which impacted the North Sea business. In December BP said it also expected to take $1 billion in total global restructuring charges from 4Q2014 through this year (see Daily GPI, Dec. 10, 2014).

A spokesman said the latest announcement coordinates with “work we are doing to simplify and increase efficiency throughout BP,” and “we see this as a prudent response to the currently challenging market environment in which BP operates.”