The strong growth in resource and infrastructure projects in Western Australia has underpinned further expansion of the state’s engineering profession, led by Australia’s largest engineering company, WorleyParsons.
The strong growth in resource and infrastructure projects in Western Australia has underpinned further expansion of the state’s engineering profession, led by Australia’s largest engineering company, WorleyParsons.
Worley has employed an extra 200 engineers in WA in the past year and currently employs about 1,600 engineers, making it by far the biggest engineering company in the state, according to data compiled for WA Business News Book of Lists (see page 30).
GHD, Lycopodium, AMEC Oil & Gas, and Maunsell Australia were other firms to report substantial growth in the past year.
The biggest constraint facing the entire industry is the limited number of qualified engineers in the market.
This has not stopped the expansion of WorleyParsons’ WA operation, however, which is involved in some of the state’s biggest resource and infrastructure projects.
It is managing Fortescue Metals Group’s $2.2 billion Pilbara infrastructure project, which involves construction of a new port at Port Hedland and rail links to FMG’s iron ore mining operation.
And it’s also working with Yilgarn Infrastructure on its plans for a new port at Oakajee and rail lines to planned iron ore mines in the Mid-West.
Worley’s main strength is the oil and gas sector, where it often works in joint ventures with big international engineering firms.
Its joint venture with FosterWheeler is managing two major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects for the North West Shelf Venture and Woodside Petroleum, while a separate joint venture with Kellogg, Brown & Root is managing three large gas field developments.
Apart from Worley, other big engineering firms in WA include Canadian company Hatch, listed Perth company GRD Minproc, and Australian company Sinclair Knight Merz.
GHD has become a much bigger employer of engineers following its recent merger with specialist oil and gas engineering company PCT Engineers.
GHD currently employs 450 engineers in WA, up from 210 one year ago, with some of the growth coming from PCT, which employed 80 engineers.
GHD’s manager Perth operating centre Graham Greenacre described the merger as “a fantastic opportunity for GHD to expand into resources and oil and gas”.
“With the expertise and the quality of the people in PCT it was a great fillip for GHD to move into that area,” Mr Greenacre told WA Business News.
PCT’s former managing director, Gary Napier, said the sale came about after PCT’s three founders “reassessed their personal goals and individual career paths”.
Mr Napier is working full time for GHD as business group manager, oil and gas, while fellow PCT founder Geoff Longshaw is working part time.
PCT’s third founder, Angelo Dabala, teamed up last year with former Minproc chief Dario Amaro to establish Emerson Stewart.
Mr Napier said PCT on its own was only ever able to tackle specialist work on production and processing facilities.
“We’ve always had to joint venture with one of those companies that has a greater umbrella of services,” he said.
Mr Napier said the GHD merger would also help the group service the growing oil and gas sector in the South China Sea and South-East Asia, “which is going to be huge and will eventually parallel the Middle East”.
