Alaska needs 7,500 trained, highly skilled oil and gas workers to meet industry demand by 2018, according to a new report produced by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Mega-projects like the Alaska LNG project are not included in those totals and will increase the demand. The pipeline and LNG project itself would not be in construction until after 2019, but if it appears to be proceeding in 2016 and 2017 it would have the effect of accelerating other projects, whose sponsors would not want their projects to get caught in shortages of skilled labor and logistics backlogs due to the big gas project.
 “The 7,500 estimate is conservative based on what we see happening in the market right now,” without the gas project, said Wanetta Ayers, business partnerships director in the Labor Department.