This presentation served as part of a webinar to give British companies hints and tips on how to access the supply chain of major gas projects in Australia.

1. Australian Oil & Gas - Accessing the Supply Chain
Linda Miles, Trade Manager, UKTI Perth
Francis Norman, Senior Consultant, Xodus Group
30th January 2014

2. 2
Searching for projects in Perth
Australian e-newsletters
 Can be useful
Australian media
 Generally good, but often slow and/or late
Client-sourced market intelligence
 Best source, but time-demanding and often difficult when from overseas
ProjectConnect
 Almost entirely free, quite useful

3. 3
Perth – the relationship market
“Be here to be accepted
Stay here to be trusted
Don’t come and go, don’t to and fro
Give up early and your business is busted”
The Perth market is a relationship market. Building solid relationships within the industry will
take 2+ years, regardless of the quality of your product/service/offer.
Be prepared for the long haul.

4. 4
Know your clients
Many will have approved supplier lists
 These are hard to get onto in mature sites
 They are easier to get onto if you have a unique new offering, or if the site is new
Their contexts are different
 Clients prefer to see local or similar-to-local references, instead of references to an
obscure and potentially irrelevant job in the North Sea
They are picky
 Clients have specific requirements which they expect to be met, sometimes these
requirements are implied or assumed to be understood at point of tender.
 Eg. Woodside generally follows Shell’s Design and Engineering Practice (DEP), but still
has their own quirks

5. 5
Australia is not the UK
Australia shares some similarities with UK standards, but also has differences
that should not be overlooked
 In some instances, Australian standards are mandatory, NOT optional
 Eg. AS 3000, Hazardous Area standards, NOPSEMA

6. 6
Playing the game
Be proactive in promoting yourself
 Speak to engineers and procurement managers multiple times.
 Speaking to the client/operator once will not automatically ensure that you will be on the
bid list.
Have patience
 Getting onto projects will take time. It’s like playing Snakes and Ladders; don’t give up
the first time you fall down a snake.
 The procurement process, in particular, may be slow. Be prepared to wait.
Think global
 Very little is built in Australia, so you may need to ship to and support Australian standard
goods into yards all over the world

7. 7
What’s next?
 Feel free to ask questions after this
presentation
 Follow the conversation on LinkedIn
 Follow the UKTI twitter account:
@uktiaustralia
 Keep yourself updated on the latest
Australian business opportunities
 Attend UKTI’s industry-specific webinars

8. 8
Questions?
Francis Norman
Senior Consultant – Xodus Group
Email: francis.norman@xodusgroup.com
Linda Miles
Trade Development Manager
Email: linda.miles@fco.gov.uk
Chris Egan
Trade Development Officer
Email: chris.egan@fco.gov.uk
Information and images courtesy of: ABC News, Arkay Career Services, Dennis Rutzou Public Relations, Francis Norman - Xodus Group,
Living In The Land of Oz, Project Connect, TV Tropes, UK Trade & Investment, Vividus