MELBOURNE, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX , Australia's largest independent gas and oil producer, said on Tuesday it would cut 300 jobs, or just under 8% of its workforce, as it shores itself up in the worst conditions experienced in the oil and gas industry in decades.
The latest job losses come on top of cuts in its contract workers earlier this year, when it slashed $2 billion in spending for 2020 and put its two biggest gas projects on hold shortly after oil prices plunged.
"Woodside has undertaken an organisational review to identify the company's workforce needs going forward in this challenging business environment, resulting in the difficult decision to reduce the size of the workforce by around 300 positions," a Woodside spokeswoman said in emailed comments.
Woodside's cuts are the latest in a wave of oil and gas job losses worldwide.
In Australia alone, Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) CVX.N is set to cut around 25% of its staff, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) XOM.N is seeking volunteers to quit the company, and Oil Search Ltd OSH.AX axed a third of its workforce.