What do they do on Barrow Island?

Barrow Island is home to the Gorgon gas project, which makes liquefied natural gas, LNG, from offshore gas fields. The workers there run and maintain the plant, its port, its trucks and the camp, under the island's quarantine rules.

How many people live on Barrow Island?

Nobody lives on Barrow Island in the usual sense: the island is a reserve, and the people there are workers on rosters. At the peak of building the Gorgon plant, about 8,000 people worked on the island, Business News reported in February 2015.

Does Barrow Island still produce oil?

Barrow Island no longer produces oil: the oil field under it stopped production in 2025, after more than 335 million barrels since 1967, and is being decommissioned, Chevron says. Gorgon still runs.

FIFO Barrow Island Jobs

Workers in orange hi-vis queue at an airport inspection bench holding their boots while an inspector shines a torch on a boot sole, with open bags of folded hi-vis and sealed sample tubs on the bench and a turboprop plane on the apron outside

Barrow Island is a nature reserve with Chevron's Gorgon gas plant on it, and the ads fly their workers in from Perth. Before the flight comes the quarantine check: every person and every bag is inspected, because the island keeps out anything the mainland could bring. The jobs are with Chevron and the contractors that run the plant and the island's camp and services. If you can pass the check and work a roster, there's a door in even without experience.

What a FIFO Barrow Island job is

A FIFO Barrow Island job is work on Barrow Island, an island reserve off Western Australia where Chevron processes gas for export. Its contractors run the maintenance, the camp, the trucks and the rigs. Workers fly in on a roster and live in camp.

FIFO Barrow Island jobs: Where to start

No experience, want a startStart here
Have a trade or a ticketStart here
Want to know the payStart here

Worried about the quarantine checkStart here
Live outside PerthStart here
Want to know where it isStart here

Find FIFO Barrow Island jobs

Search Barrow Island on SEEK (opens in a new tab), on Indeed (opens in a new tab) and on Jora (opens in a new tab), and Chevron's own jobs are on its careers site (opens in a new tab). Read the location line on every ad, because the searches mix in Pilbara jobs and other islands.

Before you apply, check where each ad's flights leave from, called the point of hire. Getting there is usually up to you.

FIFO Barrow Island jobs at a glance

Where	Off the Pilbara, 88 km north of Onslow
Flies from	Perth, where the ads hired from
Rosters	2:2 on most ads; 2:1, even time and 15:6 on a few
You'll need	A clean quarantine check; for some jobs an MSIC (Maritime Security Identification Card), an HR (heavy rigid) licence or a trade
Who hires	Chevron, and contractors such as UGL, Ertech, Ventia, Toll, Altrad, Compass Group and WorkPac
Pay	$61.55 to $84 an hour, or $696 to $931 a day, on the October 2026 ads with a figure

Listings checked October 2026 on SEEK, Indeed and Jora; island facts from Chevron Australia.

Who hires for FIFO Barrow Island jobs?

Short answer

Chevron hires for Barrow Island directly, and its contractors hire for most of the work around the plant: maintenance, construction, transport, the camp and the rigs.

UGL advertised mechanical fitters for Chevron's Barrow Island CO2 project, and Ertech advertised electricians and engineers for its electrical and earthworks contracts on the Gorgon plant. Toll wanted heavy diesel mechanics for its trucks on the island, and Altrad wanted sheet metal workers for the gas plant.

Compass Group runs the supplies for the camp, and its logistics ad was built around the quarantine. WorkPac hired controlled waste operators, and Ventia's rigs and wells crews took safety advisers and floorhands.

What the ads ask for

Most ads ask for:

A trade or oil and gas experience for the skilled jobs, three years of it on Altrad's
A driver's licence, and a heavy rigid (HR) licence for the truck and waste jobs

After the offer, the employer arranges:

A medical with a drug and alcohol screen, the flights from Perth, the camp and meals

Nice to have, and what each one gets you:

An MSIC, or eligibility for one: WorkPac's waste job asked for it

Can you get a FIFO Barrow Island job with no experience?

Short answer

A FIFO Barrow Island job with no experience is possible as a floorhand on Ventia's island rig crews, whose October 2026 ad called earlier experience advantageous but not essential. Most other island ads wanted a trade or years in oil and gas.

A floorhand is the labourer on a drilling rig crew. Ventia's ad wanted a manual driver's licence and the ability to work an even-time roster, and it hired from Perth. The crews work on the island's old oil field, so ask how long the work will last. The no-experience page covers the other ways in.

How do you get a FIFO Barrow Island job, step by step?

Short answer

You get a FIFO Barrow Island job by living in Perth, Western Australia's hub for the island, and applying to Chevron or its contractors. The beginner's door is the floorhand crews; the rest want a trade, a truck licence or a record on gas plants.

From Perth, in WA

Live in Perth, or move there first, because the island jobs are hired from Perth and one ad wanted applicants already living there (getting to the island).
Get your driver's licence, manual if you can, plus a heavy rigid one for the truck or waste jobs (what the ads ask for).
With no trade, apply to Ventia's floorhand crews, and find out how many months the old oil field's work has left (with no experience).
With a trade, apply to the contractors that keep the plant running, such as Altrad, Toll, UGL and Ertech (who hires).
Check you're eligible for an MSIC, the maritime card some island jobs want (which jobs ask).
Look for island jobs on Chevron's own careers site as well as the boards, and check each ad really is on Barrow.
Never pay an agency or anyone else to put you forward for a job (the fee rule).
Once you're offered the job, the employer books the medical and drug test and the flight from Perth, and sends the quarantine rules to follow when you pack (the quarantine check).

How much do FIFO Barrow Island jobs pay?

Short answer

FIFO Barrow Island ads in October 2026 paid $61.55 to $84 an hour where they gave a figure, and $696 to $931 a day for a casual safety adviser. Most of the island ads gave no figure.

Role	Advertised pay	Source
Controlled waste operator or leading hand, 2:2	$61.55 per hour	SEEK, WorkPac, Oct 2026
Sheet metal worker, LNG plant, 2:2	$83 – $84 per hour	SEEK, Altrad Services, Oct 2026
SHEQ advisor, rigs and wells, casual	$696- $931/day flat rate incl casual loading	SEEK, Ventia, Oct 2026

Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.

SHEQ stands for safety, health, environment and quality. A casual day rate includes the casual loading, the extra paid in place of leave, so it is the whole day's pay. Altrad's ad added paid training and a $5,500 retention bonus. The pay calculator turns an hourly rate into a swing or a year.

What is the quarantine check for FIFO Barrow Island jobs?

Short answer

The quarantine check for Barrow Island inspects you and your bags before you travel, to keep seeds, soil and insects off the island.

What gets inspected

Chevron's quarantine fact sheet says detector dogs check passengers and their bags for insects, fresh produce, seeds and soil, and anything that fails is remediated or refused transit to the island. The cargo gets the same: Compass Group's logistics ad asked for zero intercepts of quarantine risk material, every delivery inspected and the quarantine stickers kept current.

A gloved hand holds a boot sole under a torch while tweezers lift a seed from the tread, with a sealed sample bag holding the seed beside it and an orange tag on the boot — Barrow Island's quarantine check looks for seeds and soil, so brush your boot treads clean before you fly.

Before you pack

Brush the soil and seeds out of your boots, bags and clothes before you pack, and ask the employer for its quarantine instructions with the offer. The rules are Chevron's, and the instructions come with the job.

How do you get to Barrow Island for FIFO work?

Short answer

You get to Barrow Island on a flight your employer arranges, after the quarantine check. The October 2026 ads that named a point of hire named Perth, the WA hub, and getting there is up to you.

Altrad's sheet metal ad went further and wanted people living in Perth. WorkPac's waste ad said flights, accommodation and meals were provided.

A worker in hi-vis stands on a marked boardwalk through low scrub beside a beach with turtle tracks, a small wallaby next to him, with a gas plant, a jetty and a gas carrier ship in the distance and a camp of dongas and a sports court beyond — Barrow Island is a Class A nature reserve as well as a gas plant: Chevron counts almost 400 plant species and 13 native mammals there.

Where is Barrow Island, and what happens there?

Short answer

Barrow Island is about 60 kilometres off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia and 88 kilometres north of Onslow, Chevron says (opens in a new tab). Its 235 square kilometres are a Class A nature reserve, shared with Chevron's gas plant and an old oil field.

Is a FIFO Barrow Island job right for you?

Two honest questions

Are you happy to be inspected before every flight? Your boots and bags are checked for seeds and soil each swing, and a failed item is cleaned or refused.
Do you have a trade, a ticket or a site record? Most island jobs want one; without it, the floorhand crews are the door.

Ready to look?

Clean your boots first, then check where each ad is based.

Fake ads turn up on real job boards too. An ad that asks you to pay a fee before you start is a warning sign: report it to Scamwatch (opens in a new tab).

The job is one question. Whether the fly-in life suits you is six more: three minutes, free.

Is FIFO right for me?