Shell says their world-first floating gas project will give Australia a competitive advantage in the international job market.
Shell is behind the $12 billion Prelude project off the West Australian coast.
Once constructed it will be the largest floating structure ever built and will be permanently moored about 200km from the coast during its 25 years of production.
Prelude is expected to produce 3.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG, as well as volumes of condensate and liquefied petroleum gas.
Production is expected to begin in 2016.
Shell’s Australian chairwoman Ann Pickard said the company was committed to recruiting in the local community, despite conceding it had not made “any huge difference yet”, Perthnow reported.
“We are still pretty new at this, but we are committed and we are turning our intentions into action,” she said.
“It’s going to be full of Australians,” she told the annual Australasian Oil & Gas Conference in Perth yesterday.
“We have set up with Curtin University and the Challenger Institute an FLNG training program, which is going to up skill people from unique multi year program to become the first floating LNG operators.
“This will grow around the world and Australians will have an edge at being able to compete for jobs around the world on these floaters.”
Pickard told reporters the company was looking to create long-term job opportunities rather than the ‘burst’ of construction jobs.
“I think the more important things are the operation and maintenance jobs that are going to last for 20, 25 years.
“They don’t tend to put the stress on the communities that construction jobs do.
“I mean they should be the foundation, the bedrock, for our business and those jobs will exist here in Perth to support the floating industry.
Pickard said up to 85 per cent of the maintenance and operational jobs would be local.
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