COPENHAGEN, May 9 (Reuters) - Denmark's Maersk Oil will cut 40 jobs in Copenhagen, Aberdeen and Stavanger due to the low oil price, it said on Monday.

Maersk Oil, a unit of conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk , said despite significant cost cuts in the past 18 months, the oil price in the first quarter of 2016 continued to put pressure on earnings and led to a small loss in the quarter.

Maersk Oil has around 4,000 employees.

"We must continue to balance the realities of the tough market conditions with the growth agenda for Maersk Oil," Chief Executive Jakob Thomasen said in the statement.

Maersk Oil said the 40 jobs would be cut in its Growth division as a result of lower exploration activity and it comes on top of efforts to reduce costs by 20 percent across the business by end of 2016. (Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen; editing by Susan Thomas)