LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – BP will cut around 275 staff and contractor jobs in its Alaska operations in early 2015 following the sale of its interests in four oil fields in the North Slope area, it said on Tuesday. BP, one of the largest oil producers in Alaska, last April announced the sale of the fields to privately held Hilcorp, though it remains committed to developing Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in North America. BP has a total of 8,300 employees and contractors in Alaska, according to its website. Its plans for expansion in Alaska include an additional investment of $1 billion over five years, including two additional drilling rigs, one in 2015 and a second in 2016. “The Alaska business is still very important to BP. It’s just a smaller business than it was before,” a BP spokesman said. BP is also considering production of […]