General manager Kevin Berg told the ABC that the company was demobilising about 25 workers a week as it moved towards commissioning the plants and would recruit “limited numbers” in 2015 for “highly specialised roles”

"We'll continue to hire instrument techs, in particular and people who have skill sets around commissioning and start-up, and we will continue to lay off a reasonably large number of people each month," he said.

"By mid-year we will be down to 7000 to 8000 people."

Despite the layoffs, Berg said there would be opportunities at other LNG projects on the west coast.

"We've got Wheatstone over in WA, so we are recruiting people for those projects, offering employment opportunities for people over at that project on Wheatstone," he said.

"There's also Gorgon and some other LNG projects that are being built by companies other than Bechtel.

"The construction industry right now is seeing a bit of a slowdown but still is pretty robust."