Woodside announced another round of redundancies on Tuesday but will not comment on the number of employees impacted.

The cuts come while the price for Woodside’s main product – liquified natural gas – is soaring due to restricted supply from Russia and ahead of a planned merger with BHP’s petroleum assets mid-year that will likely see further job losses.

Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill told investors last year that Woodside needed a “laser-like focus on cost management” and said she would target a 30 per cent reduction in operating costs.

Woodside ended several hundred contract positions in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, made about 300 permanent employees redundant in October 2020 and cut its workforce further in July 2021.

A Woodside spokeswoman said it was changing its organisational structure to “remain cost-competitive and resilient across the commodity cycle”.

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“The changes are designed to make our operations and activities more efficient, by streamlining processes and leveraging technology to work smarter,” she said.

It is understood most job losses are in Woodside’s Perth headquarters, not its operations in the north of WA, and are part of a move to speed decision-making by giving more authority to operating assets rather than supporting specialist groups.

The Woodside spokeswoman said a limited number of roles were impacted and safety and reliability would not be compromised.