Beleaguered Santos will cut 200 jobs at its eastern Australian business unit as it digs deeper to reduce costs.
However, it won't be  letting up on its pursuit of asset sales, where some initial deals are expected within weeks. 
The latest job reductions, announced to staff on Monday, come on top of the 565 job cuts advised by the debt-laden oil and gas producer at its half-year results in   August, when it also embarked on a strategic review to try to restore shareholder value.
Most of the latest round of redundancies from the nearly 3000 staff are understood to be roles based at Santos' Adelaide headquarters, supporting operations in the Cooper Basin, Northern Territory and Victoria.
Outgoing chief executive David Knox appointed Brett Woods recently as vice-president for eastern Australia, with a specific task to simplify the division and increase  production of gas at less expense and without compromising safety.
The oil and gas producer has a target of $180 million in savings across its supply chain by the end of 2015, as it reins in spending after oil prices fell sharply in the second half of 2014. It has also pledged to deliver $100 million in cost savings at  its core Cooper Basin activities over the next three years, as part of a plan to ensure it is free cash flow positive in 2016 and beyond even without a recovery in oil prices.
Bernstein Research  named Santos in   September as among the most aggressive cost cutters in the Asian oil and gas sector, alongside Oil Search and Chinese oil giant CNOOC. It pointed to PetroChina and Sinopec as lagging the pack on addressing costs in the current weak oil price environment.

More agile organisation
"The job reductions are a part of a broader restructure of the eastern Australia business to make it a leaner, more agile organisation delivering lower-cost oil and gas from the Cooper Basin," Santos said on Monday.
Santos shares, which rallied by an astonishing 42.5 per cent last week, shed 4&cent; to $5.93. The stock is still about 50 per cent down on 12 months ago.
Meanwhile under the strategic review, steered by executive chairman Peter Coates, a range of asset sales, other transactions and potentially a capital raising are being considered.
Santos is understood to have received a range of offers for assets, with its stake in the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project  the keenest bid for. However, PNG LNG is the asset Santos is expected to be least willing to sell, given its valuable cash flow, leading to expectations it might sell only part of its stake and supplement the transaction with an equity raising.
Other potential sales, such as the GLNG project in Queensland, which is expected to ship its first cargo within days, are seen as more difficult, while the sale of the Asian or Western Australian portfolios are not expected to raise enough on their own to make much of an inroad on the debt. 
Bernstein has estimated that Santos needs to reduce its debt by $3.2 billion to about $6.2 billion to retain an investment-grade credit rating, assuming oil prices of about $US50 a barrel.