Another Chevron LNG facility in Australia to decide on strike action


Sun, August 27, 2023 
By Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Workers at one of Chevron's liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in major exporter Australia will decide on Monday whether to authorise their unions to call a strike after the company's other two facilities voted yes for possible action.

The Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities in Western Australia - along with Woodside Energy Group's projects in the same area - account for one-tenth of global supplies. Any industrial action at Chevron could disrupt output from Australia, the world's largest exporter of the super-chilled fuel.

Last week, more than 99% of the some 450 workers at Chevron's Gorgon LNG facility, one of the country's largest, and Wheatstone's downstream processing facility voted to allow unions to call strikes if necessary.

The results of ballots at the Wheatstone offshore platform are due on Monday afternoon.

If authorised by the Chevron workers, the Offshore Alliance, which combines the Maritime Union of Australia and Australian Workers' Union, would have the mandate, but not the obligation, to take industrial action, which could range from a brief work stoppage to refusing to load LNG onto tankers.

If they do decide on industrial action, the unions must give Chevron seven working days' notice beforehand.

The Offshore Alliance said on Monday industrial action was "about to kick off". The unions want higher pay and changes to working conditions, including rules that make it harder to change work rosters.

"A settlement ... is increasingly likely to come after we jam up Chevron’s LNG exports with Chevron losing $billions of revenue," the unions said in a social media post.

Chevron said on Monday it would put in place measures to safeguard supplies. "We will also continue to work through the bargaining process as we seek outcomes that are in the interests of both employees and the company," the company added.

The potential for industrial action has provided some support for LNG prices. Energy analyst Saul Kavonic said on Friday Chevron could face some "low-level" industrial action but that was unlikely to significantly disrupt supply.

The Chevron dispute comes after Woodside resolved a similar issue at its North West Shelf LNG facility in Western Australia.

Workers at the North West Shelf offshore platforms had voted to approve strike action, but then struck an agreement with the company.

(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; editing by Miral Fahmy)