Australia and NZ

The Gladstone area of Central Queensland has a long history as an industrial area—but with so much activity, by the mid-1980s there was a shortfall of appropriate labour skills. Kerry Whitaker, CEO of Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Ltd, explains to Andrew Pelis how her organisation has helped to fill that gap.

Royal Dutch Shell is to begin drilling an exploration well off the New Zealand coast that could extend the life of the Maui gas field.

Drilling ship the Noble Discoverer will drill the Ruru well for Shell Todd Oil Services Ltd. Shell Todd is 50 per cent owned by Todd Energy Ltd. and 50 per cent owned by The Hague-based Shell.

The Ruru well lies approximately 40 kilometres off the Taranki coast on New Zealand’s North Island and is adjacent to the Maui gas field. Maui, which covers an area of 157 square kilometres, began production 30 years ago.

Rod Bridges tells Andrew Pelis about the changes he has implemented at the Curragh mine and how these have resulted in big savings.

Global demand for coal continues apace, with mining companies across Australia enjoying something of a boom period. For a business like Wesfarmers Curragh, the key has been to implement cost-effective mining processes to make the most of buoyant market prices.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto has made a A$3.5 billion bid approach for Africa-focused Riversdale Mining, in a move likely to spark a bidding war.

As 2009 drew to a close and most Queenslanders were enjoying the Christmas break, ABB Australia pulled off a remarkable feat of engineering collaboration, logistics and lateral planning. Its client, CS Energy, was rather impressed, as John O’Hanlon discovers.