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REPORT ON THE LNG BOOM IN AUSTRALIA Part 4
December 6, 2009
REPORT ON THE LNG BOOM IN AUSTRALIA
Part 4
By ACRWORLD – December 2009
OPPORTUNITIES IN AUSTRALIA FROM THE LNG BOOM
In October Australia was the first G20 country to increase interest rates coming out of the Global Financial Crisis. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision sends a clear message that Australia is showing a stronger than expected economic recovery. Expectations of further rate increases sent the Australian Dollar soaring in value. It’s widely expected to reach parity of one US Dollar to one AUS Dollar in early 2010.
The historical average rate is around 1 AUS Dollar to US 70 cents. Working in Australia all of a sudden becomes a very at tractive proposition for anyone currently working on a US Dollar based salary.
ACRWORLD have been tracking the project developments and have a dedicated LNG project recruitment team. Their Managing Director, John Green explains ‘Things are really starting to heat up now following the Gorgon Projects final approval. The early works packages have been a welcome relief to Australian companies who have experienced a moderate slow down late in 2008 and into 2009. The skill sets required for these early works packages are cross transferable to the Mining industry so companies are managing to source most of their personnel locally. As the project develops the demand for specialist technical expertise in LNG process plant construction will grow. We will be working closely with our clients to source personnel with overseas LNG project experience. Qatar of course is the number 1 producer of LNG in the world and over the years many expats have benefited from working on the technically challenging projects in Qatar and we expect to be able to attract candidates with such experience to come and work in Australia’ The attraction of working in Australia is not just limited to the exciting projects, it’s the lifestyle as well.
John Weir, a British H&S Manager who previously worked in Qatar on one of the world’s largest LNG developments recently moved to Australia to work on the PNG LNG project. John explained ‘The main reason for my move was for the professional and personal opportunities that Australia had to offer. The long term planned investment and growth within the Australian LNG industry means there is a shortage of skilled and experienced personnel to fill all of the positions which opens the doors for overseas professionals of offering long term employment prospects.’ John went on to add ‘For the family Australia offers a fantastic work /rest lifestyle that has few equals. The working day’s start early and finish late particularly on project start up however the weekend is for fun in the sun and enjoying all of the leisure activities that are literally on the doorstep. In both work and leisure Australia is a very welcoming and accommodating country and the people are very friendly and supportive of new arrivals. This was not just about a career move it was a life changing move and one for me that has been well worth while Australia is a country of vast land size and a relatively sparse population. It takes over 5 hour s to fly across the country from Sydney (4.5 million people) to Perth (1.5 million people). The population is rapidly expanding, Perth’s population is predicted to double by 2050.
For Australian companies looking to hire from overseas the best solution is to process a subclass 457 Business Visa. In February 2009 in the midst of the GFC the Department of Immigration updated their 457 policy. Recommendations were made to carefully consider the prevailing employment conditions. However, in September 2009 surprise figures were announced and the actual unemployment rate fell from 5.8% to 5.7%.
Leo Oostveen from Streamlined Migration explains ‘The Department of Immigration and Citizenship recognise there is a skill shortage in engineering & construction both for professionals and trades persons and have included such positions on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL).’ While the LNG boom is generating many employment opportunities other industries in Australia are also helping to reduce unemployment levels.
Spending on infrastructure by the Rudd Governments 35 billion dollar stimulus package (under the Infrastructure Australia scheme) is now positively impacting companies. Even though the economy is in recovery mode the government is committed to continue its infrastructure expenditure. Rail in particular is a major beneficiary. There are 17 rail projects in the stimulus. This will result in more money being pumped into rail projects in the next 12 months than has been spent in the last 12 years.
One of the larger rail projects is the 4.3 billion dollar Regional Rail Network project in Victoria . Engineering contracts are due for award in coming months.
Other significant infrastructure projects include the 1.5 billion dollar Hunter Expressway in New South Wales, a 40km long dual carriageway.
In February 2009 the AdelaideAqua consortium, (McConnell Dowell Constructors, Abigroup Contractors, ACCIONA Agua and United Utilities Australia.) were awarded a $1.37 billion contract to design, build, operate and maintain the Adelaide desalination plant.
This project was quickly followed by the award in July of the Melbourne Desalination plant to AquaSure, an international consortium consisting of Degremont, Suez Environment, and Thiess and Macquarie Capital Group. Aquasure will build this $3.5 billion project with an expected 1700 jobs being created. The LNG boom is making the international headlines but behind the scenes Australia seems to be fairing very well across most industries.
ACRWORLD is an Australian recruitment company offering Executive Search and Contingency recruitment services. They have offices in Sydney & Dubai and have assisted many overseas candidates’ source roles in Australia. www.acrworld.com
To view ACRWORLD’s current jobs, click on this link
http://www.expatengineer.net/jobs.nsf/cpjobs?OpenForm&cp=cp2886
Look for more LNG Jobs here: http://www.expatengineer.net/jobs.nsf/JobsByQuery?openform&k=LNG
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