This article is 9 years old. Images might not display.
The cuts, to mainly involve Origin and Santos, will be concentrated on the 101 Surat work camps, housing fly-in, fly-out employees. This comes after Origin CEO Grant King said last week that "many, many hundreds" of employees would be laid off.
The company's offices in Brisbane are also understood to have shed staff as low oil prices coincide with the firm transitioning from construction to operations phase.
Robert Loughnan, mayor of Maranoa in Queensland's south west in the heart of the action, is particularly concerned, saying even long-term staff are "copping it", which would set the town at least a year to adapt to the transition to the operations phase.
Western Downs mayor Ray Brown said the cuts were already flowing on to small business, with vacant shops already a feature, and suggested the state government move public servants to the region to help boost local employment.
He even suggested relocating the CSG Compliance unit to Dalby, Chinchilla or Roma.
