A Karratha-based Aboriginal-owned firm has hailed a $30 million deal for work on the Pluto LNG project as a company-transforming contract.
A Karratha-based Aboriginal-owned firm has hailed a $30 million deal for work on the Pluto LNG project as a company-transforming contract.
Woodside on Thursday awarded its largest construction contract to an Indigenous firm to date to Winyama Contracting for civil works on the Pluto Train 1 modification project.
Winyama is a civil, construction, and mining services and renewable asset hire business majority owned by Ngarluma man Arthur Ramirez.
The company employs 104 staff in the region, more than one-third of whom are Indigenous.
Mr Ramirez said the $30-million-plus contract would set the one-year-old business up for the future.
“It is just huge. We will, basically, for the next two years, have to put on another 70 staff for that project,” he said.
“We bought out the [Iron Mine Contracting] contract, which they had with Woodside, and have just been able to get an extension on that for another year, plus also land the Pluto 1 project
“The scope of it is going through pulling out some part of the old infrastructure at Pluto 1, going through and clearing it all out, and then really putting all the footings back in again.”
Mr Ramirez said the company would preference local jobs, however housing market challenges meant they may need to consider some fly-in, fly-out roles.
Four or five positions under the contract will be set aside for Indigenous trainees.
Woodside Pluto expansion project manager Paul Baker said the contract would boost Indigenous and local opportunities.
“By engaging a local Indigenous led and owned contractor, we’re securing the delivery of an important service while contributing to the local economy,” he said.
“The contract will also support the growth of Winyama Contracting Group, increasing the company’s capacity to deliver services to other industries across the Pilbara.”
Woodside’s 2023 annual report showed less than 1 per cent of the company’s leaders and 5.7 per cent of staff and third-party program participants were Indigenous.
Recruitment targets for 2023 were exceeded and the company highlighted the area as a focus this year.
Winyama’s three minority partners – Ray Kaestner, Jason Gore, and Justin Angove – are all Karratha locals with backgrounds in resources contracting firms.
The Scarborough project, which includes work at Pluto, has awarded more than $3.6 billion in contracts to WA business, about $115 million of which has gone to companies in Karratha.
