As the vast scale of the new Gorgon natural gas project in Western Australia becomes apparent, so too do the huge number of new employment opportunities for those seeking to develop their oil careers or looking for new gas jobs. With significant investment from a host of the world’s leading gas and oil exploration companies in place, the technological, job creation and economic benefits of the project are sure to be felt not just in Australia but across the globe.

The new Gorgon Project currently underway throughout the Greater Gorgon gas fields promises to be one of the biggest and most important natural gas projects in the world. Located approximately 130 kilometres off the Western Australian coast, the Gorgon Project is just one of 12 proposed developments throughout Australia and Papua New Guinea that, according to some industry analysts, could make Australia the world’s biggest exporter of LNG by 2020.

Eventually embracing a total of 11 gas fields, the site is estimated to hold as much as 25% of Australia’s known gas resources. In real terms that equates to some 40 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. That’s enough energy to support a city of a million people for 800 years.

Barrow Island

Centred around Barrow Island, which lies 85 kilometres north-north-east of Onslow and 140 kilometres west of Karratha off the north-west coast of Western Australia, gas will be extracted from a total of 18 wells and then delivered to the island for treatment and liquefaction at a new 15 million tonne per annum (MTPA) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant. New shipping facilities, including a four kilometre long loading jetty, will facilitate the transport of LPG to international markets. The island will also host a domestic gas plant with the capacity to provide 300 terajoules per day to be supplied along a 70 km underwater pipeline to mainland Western Australia for domestic use.

In a process that will reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions for the project by some 40%, new injection technology will extract potentially harmful gas and inject it into deep geological formations beneath Barrow Island.

Long term benefits

A 60 year project, work is expected to last well into the middle of the century and provide thousands of new employment opportunities across a whole range of disciplines.

Construction wise, 6,000 new jobs will be created in Western Australia at the height of the development, whilst as many as 3,500 other new opportunities including a wealth of specialist gas jobs are expected to be created in supporting the project.

It’s not just those seeking rewarding oil careers who will benefit. The Australian GDP is expecting a boost to the tune of A$64.3 billion with A$40 billion finding it’s way into Government coffers through additional revenues.

An international partnership

Such a large scale project has naturally attracted the interest of the world’s biggest and best energy companies. Gorgon Project joint venture partners are ExxonMobil (25%), Shell (25%) and Chevron (47% and Operator) as well as gas buyers Osaka Gas (1.25%), Tokyo Gas (1.0%) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417%).

Already LNG sales agreements have been reached between the joint venturers and customers from a range of Asian and East Asian countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Author Bio: Duncan freer – Director – oil careers and oil jobs. Oil and Gas Job Search is a job site dedicated to the specific needs of candidates who work in the Oil and Gas industry. We also provide recruiters with an online service that is effective in terms of cost and ease of use. Contacts For interviews, images or comments contact: John Roberts Marketing Manager Email: john@thejobsearchgroup.com

Category: Business
Keywords: Oil careers, oil jobs, oil recruitment, gas jobs, gas careers, offshore oil careers