In a bid to stay afloat amid low crude oil prices, Petronas Group has announced that it would be laying off 'under 1,000' of its employees under a restructuring exercise.

“Exhaustive efforts are on-going to re-deploy affected employees. 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 in a statement today.

The announcement was made following a townhall meeting today between Petronas president and group CEO Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin with the company's employees today.

Petronas employs a total of 50,949 staff, according to its 2014 annual report.

The restructuring exercise comes just months after Shell Malaysia announced its own job cuts.

On Sept 30 last year, Shell had reportedly announced that it would be laying off 1,300 of its 6,500-strong workforce.

As part of Petronas' restructuring exercise, some leadership changes will also be made beginning April 1.

The new line-up sees Mohd Anuar Taib replacing Wee Yiaw Hin as the new executive vice-president and CEO (upstream division).