Malaysian offshore drilling and oilfield services contractor UMW Oil & Gas has cut about 300 jobs in order to deal with the downturn in oil prices.
“Our work force now is 736 after cutting 300 contract staff. We used to have almost 1,000 permanent and contract staff. We are going to try to reduce a bit more but focusing more on contract staff. We don’t want to touch permanent staff as much as possible,” said Rohaizad Darus, president of UMW Oil & Gas
“We did not renew their contracts when they expired, mostly on the operation side, as when the rig is not operational, we have to let go contract staff ,” he added.
In addition, UMW’s other cost-cutting measures include a reduction in inventory and capital cost, negotiation with vendors, and improvement in company processes. Cost reduction measures has resulted in more than $4.5m savings in the first quarter of this year.
“We need to ensure that we are efficient in terms of cost, to operate at the best level, and are able to offer competitive prices,” Rohaizad said.
Meanwhile, the company is bidding for 22 contracts worth $628m, of which 48% are domestic and 52% are international. The international contracts include three in Vietnam and two in the Middle East.
