Woodside keeps the bad news short and sweet

Contractors to Woodside Petroleum, and that includes about every second business in WA, may be in for a rough time as the big oil and gas producer launches headlong into its cost cutting crusade.

Bad news day is set for 9 December when Woodside management will tell a meeting of contractors that more pain is on the way.

Notices of the meeting begin by saying that Woodside’s cost drive, and a commitment “to be more competitive in the global energy market” had identified an oppor-tunity in the area of contracting.

The key sentence in the invitation is a desire to “maximise the value to Woodside Energy of the engage-ment of third party contractors where they enhance our capability needs given labour market fluctuations and rapidly changing business requirements”. A sub-title to that gobbledegook could read: it’s a tough world and your contract is going to be cut in price and time.

Of equal significance is that precisely one hour has been set for the meeting at the Hyatt Hotel, 2:30pm to 3:30pm. Just enough time to drop the bad news, take no questions, and be back in time for tea.