The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) acting chief executive Caroline Cherry said in addition to providing a reliable energy supply, Wheatstone was making a significant economic contribution to the long-term future of Western Australia through job creation, government revenue and procurement of local goods and services.

“Western Australia has a great standing for its secure domestic gas supply and today’s announcement will further strengthen our reputation,” she said.

“The start of domestic gas deliveries from Wheatstone will especially give businesses and industry the confidence that they will have access to an affordable and consistent supply of energy well into the future.

“It will also mean more affordable and reliable electricity for WA homes.”

At full capacity, the Chevron-operated Gorgon and Wheatstone natural gas facilities will be able to produce 500 terajoules per day of domestic gas for the WA market – enough to generate electricity for 4.3 million households.

According to third party independent analysis, the Wheatstone project will add more than $180 billion to Australia’s GDP, almost $6 billion per year from 2009 to 2040 forecasts; and boost state and federal government revenues by almost $50 billion, around $1.5 billion per year.

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The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia’s chief executive Paul Everingham said the report by the Resources 2030 Taskforce reflected the challenges being faced by companies operating in WA to attract the skilled workforce needed to build the resources sector of the future.

Mr Everingham said with the gap most prevalent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, it was imperative for Governments to work with industry to ensure educational institutions produced students with the right skills for Australia’s future workforce.

“The report has reaffirmed what CME has been hearing from members, in that demand for mining engineers, geologists and drillers continues to rise,” he said.

“The advance towards automation, robotics and artificial intelligence is compounding the problem, with courses not keeping pace with the skills and knowledge needed for the future and low university enrolments in sector-specific courses.

“Earlier this year, CME formed a taskforce to develop strategies to combat this skills gap, which is looking at ways to encourage more young people to study resource-related disciplines, as well as re-skilling and better support current employees.”

Mr Everingham welcomed the report’s finding that the future success of Australia’s resources sector relied largely on working smarter, safer, cleaner and more efficiently, with a key enabler of success being the ability to harness new innovations and technologies, such as the automation of drilling, excavation and truck and rail networks.

“This supports the research conducted by CME earlier this year in its 2018-2028 Resources Sector Outlook, which found increased use of automation, artificial intelligence and the deployment of advanced extraction techniques had the potential to improve the safety, productivity and competitiveness of the sector over the coming decade,” he said.

Other key findings from the Resources 2030 Taskforce included:

• the resources and mining services sectors are Australia’s strongest economic performers, underpinning the nation’s high standards of living;
• in 2016–17, Australia’s top 10 exports included iron ore and concentrates, metallurgical and thermal coal, natural gas, gold, aluminium ore and concentrates, and crude petroleum, representing 46 per cent of goods and services exports;
• the sector is a strong employer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, making up the highest proportion of any Australian industry. In mining, Indigenous employment grew 22.4 per cent between 2011 and 2016.

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The vital contribution of former Department of Mines and Petroleum Executive Director Bill Tinapple was today recognised as winner of the Western Australia Gas Industry Development Award for 2014.

Sponsored by North West Shelf Gas Pty Ltd and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME), the Gas Industry Development Award recognises an outstanding contribution by an individual or company toward development of the domestic gas industry in Western Australia.

CME Chief Executive Reg Howard-Smith said Mr Tinapple was a worthy recipient for his contribution as the Executive Director for Petroleum at the Department of Mines and Petroleum.

“Mr Tinapple has been involved in the oil and gas industry for over 40 years and moved to Western Australia as an engineering contractor on the North West Shelf,” said Mr Howard-Smith.

“After 12 years in the Northern Territory he joined the Department of Mines and Petroleum in 1998 as the Director of Petroleum,” said Mr Howard-Smith.

“Mr Tinapple was instrumental in facilitating and encouraging the large multi-client 3D survey offshore campaign in the 1990s, oversaw changes within the department resulting from amendments to the Commonwealth’s offshore petroleum legislation, and has facilitated the development of a regulatory framework for unconventional gas in Western Australia,” said Mr Howard-Smith

Originally from Ohio Mr Tinapple’s qualifications are in Engineering with a Masters of Business Administration from Ohio State University. He has worked across the world on several oil and gas projects in the US, Libya, Indonesia, North Sea, Norway, Nigeria, Japan, Australia and Abu Dhabi, before making the permanent move to Australia in 1985.

Mr Tinapple joins an esteemed list of past winners, including BHP Billiton and Apache Energy for the Macedon Domestic Gas Plant on 2013. Other Award winners include Thomas Maher from Apache and John Anderson from Santos for the Devil Creek domestic gas project, Alcoa of Australia Limited, Sir Charles Court, Bill Rogers, Phil Harvey, Harry Butler, Des Kelly, Eve Howell, Tim Shanahan, Keith Spence, Stuart Hohnen, David Agostini and David Eiszele.

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