Ophir Energy said today that it would save $10-$12million a year by laying off 15% of its global workforce.
The company said about half of the corporate roles at its London office and expat positions would be axed to trim costs.
London-listed Ophir announced earlier this week that its chief operating officer Bill Higgs would step down as part of the cost reductions.
The firm said it made the move in light of “limited signs of an oil price recovery, and of lower exploration activity”.
Ophir said the headcount reductions would not affect its ability to reach a final investment decision on the Fortuna floating LNG project off West Africa.
It expects to make a call on Fortuna in the second half of this year.
Ophir has an 80% operated interest in Fortuna, off Equatorial Guinea.
The African nation holds the remaining 20%.
Ophir chief executive Nick Cooper said: “We have taken certain difficult but necessary decisions to further reduce our cost base.
“This is now right-sized to maximise the value of our core assets in the period before the Fortuna FLNG Project is on-stream.
“As part of the cost reduction exercise, Dr Bill Higgs will be stepping down as COO and I would like to thank Bill for his outstanding contribution to Ophir since 2014.
“We are closing in on the Fortuna Project FID which will start the monetisation of a substantial portion of Ophir’s resource base.”
