Dubai-headquartered Polarcus will make US$15 million worth of cuts due to market uncertainty. 

The company said it did not know what impact the combined COVID0-19 pandemic and volatile oil price would have on its own business, but would introduce a cost reduction plan for the year anyway. 

Many of Polarcus' clients both here in Australia, and internationally, have made cost reductions themselves, cancelling exploration and development projects which would have provided contracts to the company. 

Last month Polarcus told its shareholders an unnamed client had dropped a substantial project in the Asia Pacific region, subsequently terminating its seismic acquisition agreement with Polarcus. 

It said it would attempt to find another client willing to contract the vessel, but has since made no announcements. 

As offshore exploration and development looks to dry up in the long-term, Polarcus has made some difficult decisions affecting hundreds of its workers. 

Polarcus will lay off many of its employees and reduce base salaries for its remaining staff by up to 25% from this month. 

According to the Oslo-listed business this will save $6.5 million alone. Polarcus will not pay its 2019 annual bonus to executives. 

It will also slash general and administration costs by US$1.5 million as a result of lower anticipated activity. 

The deepest cut, however, will be to cash capital expenditure. Polarcus said it would reduce capex by $7 million by freezing uncommitted expenditure.