Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the GLNG Project could create 5,000 jobs during construction, with 1,000 permanent production jobs, as well as create additional flow-on benefits to service industries and communities, particularly in regional areas.
However, Mr Ferguson conceded that there would be difficulty in obtaining such a workforce due to the competing demands for workers in the wake of the Queensland flood recovery.
Santos Chief Executive David Knox said that the company would first be seeking construction workers from the 1,500 staff at GLNG contractor Bechtel.
Mr Knox said “There’s also a very large number of people who commute from eastern Australia to Western Australia, so clearly we’re looking to take some of those to Gladstone.”
Australian Pipeline Industry Association Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright said “[The] decision has provided certainty for the pipeline industry, with the requirement for massive investment in transmission infrastructure that will transport natural gas from Queensland’s coal seam gas (CSG) production sites to the LNG facility at Gladstone.
“The expansion of the gas transmission infrastructure, which will be led by the development of Queensland’s CSG industry, means additional jobs for construction and operation and will also see a continued program of valuable research into safe and efficient transport of the country’s vast gas resources.”
Hastings Funds Management noted that Santos’s FID on the GLNG 2-train LNG project was the material precedent of the gas transportation agreement between wholly-owned Epic Energy and Santos that was announced on 25 October 2010. The agreement is a 15-year contract to transport 147 TJ/d of firm capacity for Santos on the South West Queensland Pipeline (SWQP), from Moomba East to Wallumbilla.
The GLNG joint venture comprises Santos with a 30 per cent interest, PETRONAS with a 27.5 per cent interest, Total with a 27.5 per cent interest and KOGAS with a 15 per cent interest.
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