The guide reveals that local professionals working in Australia earn on average $A157,710 per annum.

It outstrips second placed Norway at $147,110 by some margin.

New Zealand has moved up to third in the list from eighth in last year’s guide at $123,010.

Imported oil and gas professionals in Australia now earn $164,840 per annum on average, which is also top of the list.

Expats are also enjoying high levels of pay in China, the Philippines and Trinidad.

The salary guide bases its figures on more than 25,000 industry professionals across the globe and states that the worldwide average salary stands at $84,160 per annum – an increase of 8.5% on the previous year.

The Australasian region is paying contractors more than any other region in the world for all five of the expertise levels surveyed.

Australasia-based professionals at technician level can expect daily wages of about $665 and it progresses up to those at vice president/director level who can expect to earn an average of $1530 per day.

“The region’s major projects, particularly those in LNG, have once again maintained Australia at the top of the world in terms of compensation,” Hays oil and gas managing director Matt Underhill said.

“The guide does reveal signs of a slowdown in salary growth for both imported and local labour in Australia which may be a sign that the market has passed its peak in terms of demand for specialist oil and gas skills.

“However, this should come as some comfort to operators who have experienced lower rates of return due to spiralling costs.”

The report said average salaries in the US were $US121,400, ranking below Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Rising demand for fossil fuels and a "relatively stable" price for oil helped boost salaries for the five million people employed by the industry globally, it said.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, averaged $110.22 during the past 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"Despite the concerns in Europe and a slowdown in China's growth, the sentiment in the oil and gas industry remains positive," Oil and Gas Job Search MD Duncan Freer said.

Salaries were expected to increase 4-6% this year, the report added.

The salary survey received data from about 25,000 people in 53 countries, covering 24 different job categories, including business development, drilling and petroleum engineering.

Local workers in Sudan earned the least in the survey, at $31,100.