Malaysia's Petronas to cut about 1,000 positions after strategic review

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's Petronas announced it is making about 1,000 positions redundant and is reshuffling some senior executives after a strategic review, as the state-owned oil and gas company tries to cope with the hit from a plunge in oil prices.

Petronas, or Petroliam Nasional Bhd, is one of the biggest employers of Malaysians and has a staff of about 51,000 people, according to its 2014 annual report.

A 70 percent slump in crude prices since mid-2014 has been squeezing the finances of oil companies globally, including those of Petronas, which makes up about a third of the Malaysian government's oil and gas revenue.

Earlier this week, the company posted a quarterly net loss and confirmed plans to cut spending by 50 billion ringgit ($12.0 billion) over the next four years.

Petronas said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that it was making efforts to re-deploy employees affected by the redundancies.

"Petronas will further embark on a separation exercise for these employees as needed, which is expected to be completed over the next six months," it said.

The announcement was made after President and Group Chief Executive Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin addressed employees in a much-anticipated town hall meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Under the review, leadership changes from within the organisation have also been made, which will take effect from April 1. The statement said some executives, whose service contracts have come to an end, are leaving the company.

The leadership line up showed Mohd Anuar Taib as the new executive vice president & chief executive officer for the upstream division, replacing the former Wee Yiaw Hin.

($1 = 4.1650 ringgit)

(Reporting by Emily Chow, Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)