Hundreds of jobs to open up in the west

Resources projects are ramping up across the west, and so is the number of available jobs.

NEW BOOM: Hundreds of jobs are opening up around the Surat Basin as major companies get their latest projects off the ground. Senex alone expects to hire at least 250 people around Roma and Wandoan in the next 12 months. Picture: Contributed

A SECOND resources boom is creating a wealth of jobs in western Queensland, as gas companies make headway on their latest projects.

Across the region, 106 jobs are currently open across projects run by Yancoal, Arrow Energy, and Senex, and more positions are expected to come as the companies ramp up their operations.

Senex alone expects to create more than 200 jobs around the Surat Basin in the next 12 months on sites like Roma North and Project Atlas at Wandoan.

"To prepare for the expansion in our Roma operations, Senex has advertised throughout the Surat Basin for production operators and construction supervisors, and the recruitment process is still under way for these roles,” a Senex spokesman said.

"During construction many people will be required over a period of months to provide specialist skills needed to build the infrastructure, and in total across these projects, Senex will be creating more than 250 construction jobs, including about 50 at Roma North.”

The resources industry looks to be bucking a national trend of rising unemployment, with the latest numbers from the Queensland Resources Council showing a big jump in available jobs.

"In the year to date, the unemployment rate in resources regions has been substantially lower than the national rate, while the most recent jobs figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show Queensland's trend unemployment rate is now at 6.3 per cent,” QRC CEO Michael Macfarlane said.

"Then, in the three years to April 2019, the number of job advertisements for mining- related occupations has increased by 94 per cent, whereas the number of job advertisements across all industries increased by just 6 per cent.

"The resources sector is hiring, and the majority of jobs are in regional areas; those jobs are ready for the taking for people who want to have a go in regional Queensland.”