The portal, announced this week by the WA Labor state government as part of a broader resources jobs and skills package, was welcomed by the national peak body representing the petroleum industry, the Australian Petroleum Production Exploration Association (APPEA).
APPEA said the portal would provide important information on specific skills and training requirements for people in WA interested in working in the oil and gas upstream sector.
"This important initiative will increase awareness of the roles and opportunities in oil and gas and the relevant training required," APPEA WA director Claire Wilkinson said.
"Oil and gas will be part of WA's economic fabric well into the future, just as it has supported our way of life in recent decades. We will need people with skills relevant to the oil and gas sector for years to come, and it would be great if we could employ these people from within WA."
However, the announcement of the portal comes just days after one of the state's biggest employers in the oil and gas sector announced a round of redundancies from its workforce.
Woodside Petroleum said last week it would make 300 direct staff redundant.
Woodside currently employs more than 3834 direct workers. The company's workforce had been growing up until COVID-19. The cuts will be just under 8% of its workforce.
Chevron also sacked 230 workers at its Gorgon gas plant and made a further 180 voluntary redundancies just last month.
Despite the redundancies, which are attributable largely to exploration budgets being slashed in the wake of soft demand for oil and gas caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price crash of March APPEA said there still skills shortages that needed to be filled in the upstream space.
"[Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic] we have noticed particular skills shortages in operations including marine, electrical and mechanical as well as plant operator and maintenance skills, so training in these areas could provide good opportunities for Western Australians to work in our sector," Wilkinson said.
