PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Thousands of temporary and hundreds of permanent job openings are soon coming to the Port Arthur area.
Golden Pass LNG, a liquefied natural gas terminal in Sabine Pass, is expanding its operations. Construction is being done on the terminal to add liquefaction and export capabilities to its existing operations.
The project that started in 2019 is expecting to bring an increase in construction jobs to the Port Arthur area.
“We're going to employ construction workers, probably around 7,000 construction jobs,” Mary Ann Reid, Golden Pass LNG community affairs specialist, said.
The Golden Pass LNG terminal is in its third year of construction. The $10 billion expansion project is a joint venture investment by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil.
The project will export liquefied natural gas from a plant on the Texas Gulf Coast and includes three liquefaction trains. The total capacity will be about 16 million tons of LNG per year.
The project has already added more than 3,000 construction jobs and company officials plan to hire 7,000 workers during peak construction times in 2023.
Once the site is fully operational, it will add 200 permanent new jobs. One hundred of those jobs have already been filled. Company officials said hiring area residents is a top priority.
“It's very important to us that we utilize our local employees,” Reid said. “Our construction workforce that we have on site right now, in the nine county areas, 80% of our construction workforce is local.”
Golden Pass said it paid out more than $180 million in payroll in 2021 for area workers. That is set to increase in 2022 and 2023, until the project is complete.
“Once you finish the main part of your building, we're going to have to ramp down,” Reid said.
Company officials said jobs will continue to be available in the construction industry.
“There's so many projects in the Southeast Texas region right now in local industry, that there are jobs for years,” Reid said.
Company officials expect the project to be completed in 2024. Those interested in applying for one of the positions are encouraged to visit the Southeast Texas Workforce Guide website.