Santos cuts contractor numbers, closes offices

2nd April 2020 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas giant Santos has confirmed that it will cut some 150 contractor rolls and will shut down all of its offices for a two-week period across the Easter period.

The office shutdown will cover all of the states and territories in which the company operates, and will run from April 6 until April 24, and Santos is expecting that some 500 office employees will be affected.

“As we continue to battle this once in a hundred year event, my focus remains on the health and wellbeing of our people, on keeping the lights on and powering essential services like hospitals, schools and manufacturers across Australia,” said MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher.

“This unprecedented event, combined with low oil prices, is continuing to challenge us all. We are working through a public health and economic crisis of a scale that we have not seen in our lifetimes.

“To do this, we need to maintain production and the revenue that comes with that so we can save Santos jobs and keep paying wages. This is an office shutdown, not a business or company shutdown. Field-based employees will continue to work and keep production flowing.”

Santos has confirmed that production will not be affected by the contractor cuts or by the office shutdown.

Santos in March announced that it would cut its 2020 capital expenditure by some A$550-million along with a A$50-million reduction in cash production costs. Furthermore, the company has also pushed back the final investment decision for its Barossa offshore gas project.