As Gladstone's 3 major oil and gas projects transition into operations and maintenance phase, it's interesting to see how this change will effect the local economy and businesses in the region. I was part of a delegation last week to travel to Gladstone to understand how local industry has positioned themselves for the changes ahead and what supporting industry organisations can do to assist. 

Geoffery Cann, Deloitte National Director Oil and Gas, was invited to present to the Gladstone Engineering Alliance at an event dedicated to showcasing the supply chain capabilities of the membership.

The essence of his remarks are that:

• Australia has made a far reaching decision to support natural gas exports driven by demand from Asia.
• The projects are moving into steady state operations
• Our villain is the crude oil market that has taken a dramatic fall in price
• The global LNG industry has been overturned in its wake
• To survive and thrive, Gladstone needs to do three things. First, promote the interaction between its value chains (gas, coal, biomass, bauxite). Second, adopt technologies to help take out cost and improve productivity. Third, become factory-like in all aspects of work.
• As only one in ten LNG projects will proceed, Gladstone has a large lead over other exporting cities and will be able to expand in the future.

Credit: Geoffrey Cann, Deloitte National Director Oil and Gas