Hays Oil & Gas - July 2010

The Queensland Gas Curtis (QGC) and Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG) projects are close to reaching final investment decision (FID). A significant component of these projects involve a combined 900 kilometres of overland natural gas pipelines. These need to be designed and constructed, creating high demand for Pipeline Engineers and Mechanical Engineers.

Companies positioned to secure contracts with the major LNG projects are seeking Project Directors with EPCM oil facilities experience to increase their local capabilities.

As these projects continue to progress there will be demand for Planners and Schedulers to commence building the design and construction schedules and refine the project delivery timeframes.

Continuing exploration in coal seam gas (CSG) assets in NSW is creating demand for Exploration Managers and Geophysicists.

In Victoria and South Australia, the larger operators are growing their technical teams in earnest, and are also extending many fixed-term contracts as they come up. Smaller operators are taking advantage of increased access to capital markets to fund expanded exploration and drilling programs. Accordingly we are seeing increased recruitment for the Exploration Geologists, Geophysicists, and Drilling Engineers needed to drive such activities. Victorians are still seeing a trickle of head office moves from Melbourne to Perth, with two foreign-owned mid-sized firms having finalised such plans in recent months.

In the west, Subsea Engineers, Development Geologists and high level Process Engineers are highly sought after. Projects that were marginal or unfeasible during the GFC are now viable with the higher oil price. Major LNG developments are also driving demand for Subsea Engineers.

Where possible, employers have opted for internal transfers and moved staff from one project to another. While they will consider overseas candidates, few are prepared to offer sponsorship unless it is for a particularly skilled individual, such as candidates with coal seam gas experience.

The coming quarter

There will be an increase in temporary recruitment as companies receiving letters of intent from the major gas owner/operators start gearing up their project teams for pre-FID design work. Upon project FID there will be a significant increase in engineering and construction discipline staff being appointed in a permanent capacity.

Assuming capital markets hold and recent events in Europe and Asia do not adversely affect the global economic recovery, operators are expected to continue their ramping-up of permanent recruitment of technical professionals.

Executive recruitment

Activity continues, with more opportunities for Project Managers, Study Managers, Principals and Project Directors.

Employer trends

In line with increased market confidence, employers are offering higher salaries for candidates with the right experience and skills, especially in high demand areas such as CSG. They are also placing greater emphasis on the full employment package, and not just cash benefits, in order to better attract candidates.

Candidate trends

On the whole there are more candidates actively looking in the market, particularly from other industry sectors wanting to move into oil and gas. There are however fewer candidates with specific coal seam gas industry experience as they are quick to find employment.

Those with solid experience are being very selective about the role they are prepared to take and are still looking for high levels of security. Most are more focused on the opportunity than the money, although there has been a slight indication this might be changing.