Jason McDonald – Graduate Engineer, Contract Resources
New to the industry as a graduate engineer for Contract Recourses, Jason McDonald has been a member of Energy Club WA since the completion of his university studies at Curtin in 2020.
However, his introduction to the Energy Club came well before that. When he was in year 10, Jason took part in the club’s Next Generation Schools Program which inspired him to pursue a career in Petroleum Engineering and become a lead mentor in the same program.
During his studies, Jason won the BHP Petroleum Engineering scholarship which led him to complete vacation work over two summers at BHP Petroleum.
As a result, Jason was exposed to projects relating to reservoir engineering, production engineering and instrumentation and controls before graduating.
“Upon the completion of my studies in December 2020 I undertook a graduate engineering role at Contract Resources where I am currently working to help deliver successful maintenance, shutdown and turnaround activities for Energy Industry assets”, Jason said.
Contract Resources is a specialised industrial services company within the energy and mining industries. As part of his role, Jason supports and coordinates engineering projects, which he said helps to demonstrate his leadership skills.
Jason enjoys the opportunity to travel to various sites with the Contract Resources execution team. “This allows me to learn the details of all activities Contract Resources undertakes and improve the quality of our engineering and coordination support,” he said.
A standout project for Jason was supporting the offshore section of Woodside Energy’s Okha FPSO Turnaround project in 2021. “Having been involved in the initial planning stages of the turnaround in my first weeks of working at Contract Resources I was excited to travel to the facility and complete the turnaround activities as an industrial services technician,” he said. “As a team, we were able to deliver a successful turnaround despite a number of challenges faced during both the planning and execution phases.”
Jason is proud of his achievements as a lead mentor in the Energy Club WA’s Next Generation Schools Program because of his participation in the program in his earlier years. The program aims to increase students’ awareness of career opportunities within the energy industry through their mentors presenting at schools.
Jason believes one of his greatest achievements was his ability to adapt the skills and knowledge gained from his degree to his role at Contract Resources which would typically be reserved for chemical and mechanical engineers. “I was able to combine my knowledge of subsea and subsurface systems with surface facilities and practical execution philosophies to broaden my overall knowledge of many activities conducted in the energy industry,” he said.
Jason remains motivated by focusing on his output at work, including optimisation and challenging the status-quo within the industry. “This prompts me to continually think and come up with new ideas every day and that is a big part of what drives me to keep working,” he said. “I relish the opportunity to provide continuous development to not only myself but the industry as a whole and I hope to continue to contribute to this for the rest of my career.”
When not working, Jason enjoys restoring his 1967 VW Beetle, a gift he received as a teenager to develop his practical skills, and exploring the South West’s scenery through hiking with the hopes of travelling overseas in the coming future.