Oil and Gas

The WA oil and gas industry is massive. The State hosts 67 operating on and offshore oil and gas fields, and is home to the North West Shelf Joint Venture, giant Gorgon project, and gas processing plants on the Burrup Peninsula. The industry is a leader in developing new and advanced technologies to design and build offshore oil and gas platforms, and local companies are recognised internationally for their innovation and technological sophistication.

The demand for clean fuels is driving the LNG market and explorers are looking for innovative, cheaper ways to locate resources - using seismic mapping and reserve modelling with 2-D, 3-D and 4-D technologies. Oil and gas explorers are also moving to deeper waters and looking to new technologies to help them drill to greater depths and further from land. The need for telecommunications and remote access is huge in this sector.

With all this expertise here the State Government wants to establish WA as a centre of excellence in technology and services to the oil and gas industries, concentrating on the high-tech, high-value end of the spectrum. This means focusing on innovation, technology and ICT development and the commercialisation or implementation of new developments. We have a number of oil and gas technology research centres here already: the Australian Resources Research Centre, WA Energy Research Alliance and Australian Marine Complex - with its technology precinct focused on technology-driven organisations in oil, gas, marine and defence sectors. And we're going to get bigger!