The bright lights of Christmas nights are long past, and so too are the celebrations which heralded the new year. For us folks in the northern hemisphere, we’re facing the cold reality that winter has a long way still to go.

So what to do to escape the January blues?

In the UK many folks take comfort in turning their thoughts to warmer days and launch their search for the best summer holiday deals. Research shows that this frantic scramble reaches fever pitch on the second weekend in January.

Take a new look at your career

The travel companies have dubbed the day ‘Sunshine Saturday’.

As they say in Germany „Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude!“, or “The greatest pleasure lies in the anticipation!” The early bookers will certainly have a lot of pleasure contemplating their two-week summer escape to a far-flung sunny beach.

But what if that ‘sunshine feeling’ was something that was a daily experience? What if we could escape the winter blues for good?

In the energy sector, and especially in the oil business, we have been experiencing a cold wind indeed. Driven by unprecedented low crude oil prices, the threat of redundancy is a real concern for many in the operating and service companies.

One leading oil and gas region is bucking the trend however, and standing in the sun. With it’s focus on a growing LNG export market, Australia is set to outpace Qatar as the largest global exporter of LNG¹. Long-term contracts agreed with Japan, China and other Asian growth markets mean that Australian gas prices are largely protected from the vagaries of the global hydrocarbon markets.

The Australian energy sector is hungry for experienced personnel to power its growth, and pays its oil&gas workers well. Australia leads the global industry with an average annual salary of almost US$170k ². Maybe it’s time to turn our focus south and tap into the wealth of career opportunities ‘down-under’. With over 80% of its population living within 50km of the beach, Australia boasts an envied work/life balance and outdoor lifestyle, every day could be a ‘Sunshine Saturday’³.

Warm regards

Timothy Crossett – Executive Energy

References:

¹: ‘The Future of Australian LNG Exports’ – The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

²: ‘Canada: Great Salaries in Oil and Gas’ – Gas Global

³: ‘An outdoor lifestyle: beach and barbeques’ – www.australia.com

Photo courtesy of www.australia.com