Chevron announced on Monday that its Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Western Australia has resumed full production. This comes after a fault last week resulted in a cut in production by about 20%. Workers from Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities had initiated 24-hour strikes over the weekend, escalating from brief work stoppages and limited bans on certain tasks that had been occurring for six days. These facilities account for over 5% of global supply.
While strikes are typically most effective during outages as restarting equipment requires more workers, the Wheatstone facility continued LNG exports on Friday despite the fault and strikes. A Chevron spokesperson confirmed that LNG production continued at approximately 80% of the usual rates during the fault, and vessel loading was not affected. Chevron also stated that there would be no change to scheduled LNG deliveries and that domestic gas facilities and supply remained unaffected.
Chevron has requested the intervention of Australia’s industrial tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, to resolve the ongoing dispute over wages and conditions. The commission will hold a hearing on Friday. The strikes were initially set to run until the end of the month, but the Offshore Alliance union has indicated that they intend to extend their work stoppage plans by filing a notice with Chevron. A union official, who preferred not to be named, revealed that the workers plan to extend industrial action for another two weeks until the middle of October. Mediation talks may take place on Monday and Tuesday.
Chevron has previously stated that it would not provide ongoing comments on the strikes, but would take necessary steps to maintain operations if disruptions occur.
Sources:
– Reuters (no URL)
– Lewis Jackson (no URL)