Buru Energy said today it has maintained production at its Ungani oil project in the Kimberley but has joined other resources companies, including Australian Vanadium, in cutting salaries, directors fees and other spending to preserve cash during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buru will cut the salaries of its corporate staff by between 20 and 75 per cent across a range of management and operational positions.
“Individual salary reductions have been determined by the requirements for employees to be available to ensure the safe and environmentally compliant operating capability of the company,” Buru said.
Chairman Eric Streitberg’s salary will be reduced by an initial 55 per cent, while Buru’s executive directors will each receive a 40 per cent reduction in fees.
Buru said there would also be a number of redundancies across the business.
It has maintained production at Ungani with the next lifting scheduled for mid-May, but has reduced discretionary spending on the project.
Buru said the global global crude oil market was being monitored with respect to the continuation of prodcution.
It added that current COVID-19 protocols had not materially affected the company’s operations, which are staffed locally, with no fly-in, fly-out workers.
Its shares were down 6.6 per cent to trade at 7.1 cents per share at 1:15pm AEDT.
Meanwhile, Australian Vanadium managing director Vincent Algar and chief operating officer Todd Richardson will both accept a 50 per cent cut to their salaries.
AVL’s non-executive directors and key consultants will also receive 50 per cent fee reductions.
Mr Algar says the company has taken early action to ensure the financial health of the business.
“The AVL team has proved its ability to maintain a strong presence in the market and we will continue to do this through this difficult period for the whole economy,” he said.
AVL, also based in West Perth, said it had already completed salary reductions and redundancies for remaining staff.
The company has postponed geotechnical activities related to site location and mine design for its vanadium development project, located 43 kilometres south of Meekatharra.
AVL said, however, the outlook for the Australian Vanadium project remained strong.
Its shares were down 11 per cent to 0.8 cents per share at 2:15pm AEDT.
