Pay Increases in Australian Oil, Gas Driven by LNG Projects, Hays Says
Australian energy companies are paying engineers, geologists and other contractors 35 percent more this year as liquefied natural gas ventures fuel competition for labor, the U.K.’s largest recruiting firm said.
Contractors in Australia are receiving $1,080 a day, on average, compared with $800 a day last year, Matt Underhill, a Sydney-based managing director of oil and gas for Hays Plc, said by phone. That’s almost $22,000 a month, assuming 20 days’ work.
Average salaries for “professionals” in the Australian oil and gas industry for 2011 are 90 percent above the global mark, rising 5 percent to $143,700, compared with a little- changed $75,813 worldwide, Hays found in a survey conducted in September and October. The more than $30 billion in Queensland state coal-seam gas-to-LNG ventures approved by BG Group Plc and Santos Ltd. are set to increase labor demand and drive up pay further, Underhill said in a Feb. 9 interview.
“That’s going to put everything into overdrive,” Underhill said. “There’s already a big battle in the West for skills with mining and LNG projects, and now we’re going to up the ante by putting another player into the competition with coal-seam gas work.”
Companies may need to look increasingly overseas, including the U.S. and Canada, to satisfy the demand, Underhill said. “Local talent doesn’t exist in some disciplines,” he said. “Some of the employers are reluctant to do that, but I think that’s going to change.”
The Hays survey included about 11,000 responses, he said.
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To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney at jpaton4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net
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