Australia`s offshore gas exploration has slowed to a trickle of late, with the number of wells drilled falling by more than two thirds in the last 10 years while costs have risen by 500%.

That`s why the discovery of a huge onshore natural gas field by AWE is so important to WA`s economy. AWE said the find, about 350klms north of Perth, may be the largest onshore natural-gas reserve in Western Australia for 50 years.

It was discovered whilst drilling the Senecio-3 well in the north of the basin and had shown a “significant”� source of gas beneath the area originally�tested by the well.

The Waitsia field could contain more than 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, following the initial analysis of a recently drilled well.

AWE could start initial production at its Senecio and Waitsia fields as soon as 2016, supplying up to 10 per cent of the West Australian natural gas market for the next 10 to 20 years and provide gas jobs for many in WA.

Operator AWE owns a 50 per cent stake, whilst Origin Energy Resources holds the remaining share.

At present, most of Western Australia`s oil and gas is shipped to Asia and processed there, but there is a growing domestic market for natural gas in WA, with an existing demand for this product from mining and mineral processing companies. AWE said they would favour supplying this local market from the Waitsia field.

The gas in Waitsia could be produced relatively quickly, using existing infrastructure just 7 kilometers from the well at AWE`s existing Dongara gas plant, said Managing Director Bruce Clement.

It has also come at a time when domestic gas prices are expected to rise over the next five to ten years due to an anticipated increase in LNG exports, with global demand expected to double between 2012 and 2030, according to Ernst & Young.

Speaking to The Australian Business Review, AWE managing director Bruce Clement said the new zones were likely to be even bigger than the well`s original target.

The new zones, he said, could host well over 100 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas that could easily and cheaply be connected into existing gas pipelines in the basin.

Gas prices in Western Australia are relatively high compared with the rest of Australia, making sales to the domestic market a more attractive proposition than in other parts of the country.

Queensland gas jobs forging ahead

It’s not just WA that is thriving on the gas front. Santos GLNG has just this week fed its first coal seam gas into a 420km pipeline stretching from near Roma in the Surat Basin,�to the Curtis Island processing plant off Gladstone, where it�will be�converted into liquefied natural gas.

This infrastructure has taken�more than 2�years and millions of man-hours to complete and will now be commissioned ahead of first gas to the island later this year, and export in 2015. The pipeline was built by Saipem Australia for Santos GLNG.

As the Australian gas industry increases its momentum and more and more CSG wells are being sunk, there is immense opportunity for more gas jobs to be created. Many people who have previously worked in the construction and even the mineral mining industries, have successfully transferred their skills to the gas industry.

With a managed approach to skills building and a determination to invest in self-education, more and more people are earning a good living off the CSG-LNG industry.

Applying for gas jobs in Australia requires a mix of the right skills, experience and training. All of this can be a waste of time and money if online applications are submitted without any consideration for what waits at the other end of the application pipeline.

What we are talking about here is a very real threat to your career opportunities.

Around 70%+ of job applications are scanned by computer software

Think about this . . .

When you submit a resume online, have you thought to yourself: where does it go, who reads it and why (should you be one of the lucky ones) it gets selected?

Almost every recruitment company uses keyword-search software or applicant-tracking systems to scan resumes as they are delivered into their system. These highly advanced systems use special algorithms to scan resumes for keywords related to the position being advertised to find the ones that meet the pre-programmed software rules.

Before you start to even think about applying for Queensland CSG jobs . . . review your resume.

Even better, get your own copy of the iMINCO guides on how to beat resume scanners and how to write a winning resume.

These guides are FREE and contain lots of tips, hints and good advice on how to create a resume and get it past the resume scanning and Applicant Tracking Systems.

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