Bechtel hires up to 150 new workers as LNG ramps up
CONSTRUCTION powerhouse Bechtel is having to hire between 100 and 150 new workers each week as it builds multiple gas plants on Curtis Island off Gladstone.
With about 8300 already employed across three multi-billion collar construction projects, the American firm is ramping up to having 8800 workers when construction numbers peak.
Bechtel Gladstone operations general manager Kevin Berg told the Queensland Government's Major Projects Conference on Thursday that at least half of all workers had been pulled from the Gladstone area.
When that supply was exhausted, Bechtel would work "in concentric circles", recruiting from across the state.
He said this meant 88% of Bechtel workers were Queenslanders, with only a fraction of the workforce hired from interstate.
Mr Berg said Gladstone's support of the projects meant Bechtel and the town were "humming right along".
Workers are spread across three projects - Australian Pacific LNG, Gladstone LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG.
QCLNG is due to be completed in 2014, with the other two expected to be operating from 2015.
