$45bn coal seam gas projects draw workers from around the world  

Posted by Big Gav in , ,

The Australian has an article on the windfall heading Bechtel’s way as construction looms for 3 coal seam gas LNG projects in Queensland - $45bn gas plan draws workers of the world.

WORKERS from as far away as Ireland will be part of the massive fly-in, fly-out workforce needed to build the $45 billion development turning coal-seam gas into liquified natural gas on Curtis Island off Gladstone, central Queensland.
About 800 people are now working on the mangrove-fringed island on the north side of Gladstone Harbour, but this is expected to rise to at least 6000, housed in specially constructed camps, within two years. There will also be up to 2000 contractors, who will not live on site but will be ferried across from Gladstone every day to help build the three liquid natural gas plants, expected to be operating by 2015.

While protests against coal-seam gas continue in areas such as the Darling Downs, where 40,000 coal-seam wells will be constructed, the export industry is proceeding rapidly. The pipeline that carries the coal-seam gas from the Darling Downs to Gladstone is under construction, and work on the plants that will convert the gas into 38 million tonnes of liquid to be exported to Asia each year is well under way.

Three LNG plants are being built -- by the British-owned BG Group, Santos and Origin -- but all three $15bn plants are being built by US construction giant Bechtel, which owns the intellectual property rights to the technology. Bechtel, one of the world's biggest contractors with a global workforce of 55,000, is already a big employer in Gladstone, with about 1500 people working at the expansion of Rio Tinto's alumina refinery at Yarwun. …

The sheer scale of the three projects is having a debilitating effect on the central Queensland region, already suffering a skills shortage because of the mining boom. While wages for unskilled workers in mining average between $80,000 and $120,000 a year, with up to $150,000 for more skilled workers, labour hire operators estimate the short-term nature and urgency of the jobs on Curtis Island mean the pay on offer is 15-20 per cent higher than in mining industries. ... A mine worker paid $150,000 a year might be able to get $180,000 as the Curtis Island workforce increases.

0 comments

Post a Comment

Statistics

Locations of visitors to this page

blogspot visitor
Stat Counter

Total Pageviews

Ads

Books

Followers

Blog Archive

Labels

australia (619) global warming (423) solar power (397) peak oil (355) renewable energy (302) electric vehicles (250) wind power (194) ocean energy (165) csp (159) solar thermal power (145) geothermal energy (144) energy storage (142) smart grids (140) oil (139) solar pv (138) tidal power (137) coal seam gas (131) nuclear power (129) china (120) lng (117) iraq (113) geothermal power (112) green buildings (110) natural gas (110) agriculture (91) oil price (80) biofuel (78) wave power (73) smart meters (72) coal (70) uk (69) electricity grid (67) energy efficiency (64) google (58) internet (50) surveillance (50) bicycle (49) big brother (49) shale gas (49) food prices (48) tesla (46) thin film solar (42) biomimicry (40) canada (40) scotland (38) ocean power (37) politics (37) shale oil (37) new zealand (35) air transport (34) algae (34) water (34) arctic ice (33) concentrating solar power (33) saudi arabia (33) queensland (32) california (31) credit crunch (31) bioplastic (30) offshore wind power (30) population (30) cogeneration (28) geoengineering (28) batteries (26) drought (26) resource wars (26) woodside (26) censorship (25) cleantech (25) bruce sterling (24) ctl (23) limits to growth (23) carbon tax (22) economics (22) exxon (22) lithium (22) buckminster fuller (21) distributed manufacturing (21) iraq oil law (21) coal to liquids (20) indonesia (20) origin energy (20) brightsource (19) rail transport (19) ultracapacitor (19) santos (18) ausra (17) collapse (17) electric bikes (17) michael klare (17) atlantis (16) cellulosic ethanol (16) iceland (16) lithium ion batteries (16) mapping (16) ucg (16) bees (15) concentrating solar thermal power (15) ethanol (15) geodynamics (15) psychology (15) al gore (14) brazil (14) bucky fuller (14) carbon emissions (14) fertiliser (14) matthew simmons (14) ambient energy (13) biodiesel (13) investment (13) kenya (13) public transport (13) big oil (12) biochar (12) chile (12) cities (12) desertec (12) internet of things (12) otec (12) texas (12) victoria (12) antarctica (11) cradle to cradle (11) energy policy (11) hybrid car (11) terra preta (11) tinfoil (11) toyota (11) amory lovins (10) fabber (10) gazprom (10) goldman sachs (10) gtl (10) severn estuary (10) volt (10) afghanistan (9) alaska (9) biomass (9) carbon trading (9) distributed generation (9) esolar (9) four day week (9) fuel cells (9) jeremy leggett (9) methane hydrates (9) pge (9) sweden (9) arrow energy (8) bolivia (8) eroei (8) fish (8) floating offshore wind power (8) guerilla gardening (8) linc energy (8) methane (8) nanosolar (8) natural gas pipelines (8) pentland firth (8) saul griffith (8) stirling engine (8) us elections (8) western australia (8) airborne wind turbines (7) bloom energy (7) boeing (7) chp (7) climategate (7) copenhagen (7) scenario planning (7) vinod khosla (7) apocaphilia (6) ceramic fuel cells (6) cigs (6) futurism (6) jatropha (6) nigeria (6) ocean acidification (6) relocalisation (6) somalia (6) t boone pickens (6) local currencies (5) space based solar power (5) varanus island (5) garbage (4) global energy grid (4) kevin kelly (4) low temperature geothermal power (4) oled (4) tim flannery (4) v2g (4) club of rome (3) norman borlaug (2) peak oil portfolio (1)