Santos is blaming low oil prices for its decision to sack workers.

The resource giant has not stated how many workers will be cut, or from where.

A spokesperson for Santos has told reporters that the company will make redundancies and reduce the amount of contractors it uses too.

The Australian Workers Union says employees were told by email that the axe was about to swing, but were given no other details.

 Santos claims low and “volatile” oil prices were forcing it to pursue “efficiency and productivity” options.

“In December last year we announced a 25 per cent reduction in capital expenditure for 2015 and also flagged a review of our operational expenditure,” the spokesperson told the ABC.

“The level of redundancies will be determined through this productivity and efficiency process.”

He said Santos was still committed to further development of the Cooper Basin.

The call comes just days after BHP Billiton announced it would axe a raft of jobs in SA, and a week after iron ore firm Arrium announced it would cut 600 jobs in SA as well.