Woodside Energy will lay off at least 500 workers globally by 2028, as part of a plan to cut its annual fixed costs by $400 million (A$572 million), the company told investors on 5 November.
“We are accelerating the deployment of AI and other digital technologies,” Woodside Energy Chief Executive Officer Liz Westcott said. “We are [also] simplifying workflows, reducing duplication, and optimizing processes across our global businesses,” she added.
Woodside has not announced a geographic breakdown of its planned job cuts. The company plans to save $130 million per year through operational streamlining, and another $270 million through risk-based contracting and project portfolio management, it said.
Woodside’s cost-saving scheme could increase its return on capital by about 0.5 percentage points, indicative forecasts show.
But the company does not face financial challenges. It expects its annual oil-equivalent sales to hit 280 million barrels in 2032, up from 212 million barrels in 2025, largely because of increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and demand.
Woodside owns developing oil and gas projects across the US, Australia, Mexico, and Senegal. The company expects to liquefy eight million tonnes of natural gas annually at its Scarborough offshore project, near Western Australia, from October-December 2026.
In October, Greenpeace activists briefly halted pre-commissioning work at Scarborough to protest against the company’s plan to extract oil and gas at Scott Reef, an ecologically dense area, the environmental group said on 17 October.
“Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal would turn the magnificent Scott Reef into an industrial gas zone. [The company] wants to drill up to 57 toxic wells around [the area],” Greenpeace Chief Executive David Ritter told reporters.
Woodside will also annually produce 17 million tonnes of natural gas at its Louisiana LNG project from 2029. Regulators have granted the company permission to liquefy up to 24 million tonnes of natural gas in Louisiana.
By Avinash Govind