"Regrettably, these changes have resulted in the redundancy of 19 full time employees and contractors in Brisbane and five at the Stage 1 Project in Gladstone," the company told the stock exchange. "Five other technical personnel will be reassigned to Gladstone from Brisbane."

Managing director Jim McFarland said SPP regretted having to lay off workers , however the restructuring "has been implemented to focus the company's people and financial resources on its top priorities, namely the Stuart operation and the program to identify joint venture partners and other forms of financing to progress development of the Stuart Project," he said.

SPP said the Stuart Stage 1 operation continues to provide valuable know-how and design improvements for the proposed Stage 2 commercial project.

"In this respect, the redeployment of five Brisbane-based technical personnel to Gladstone will provide valuable support to the Stage 1 operation," the company said.

Oil production operations resumed at the Stage 1 plant on 13 December. Oil production rates have been averaging around 2,500 barrels per day, SPP told the market.