"The company will only incur absolutely necessary expenditures," Central warned yesterday.

The "implemented" retrenchments mainly hit consultants and contractors while Central's directors have agreed to reduce their fees by 20% until next financial year.

Central has also applied to operate its Surprise oil field in the Northern Territory remotely from Alice Springs to reduce production costs.

The company's gas revenues are not impacted by the global oil tumble, with domestic gas prices still expected to rise.

In addition, expressions of interests have now closed for the NT pipeline proposal with Central "confident that the interconnect project will be aided by the recent events".