Chevron's strike-hit Australia LNG facility resumes full production
Chevron said on Monday full production had resumed at its strike-hit Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Western Australia after a fault last week cut production by about one-fifth, according to Reuters.
Wheatstone and the nearby Gorgon facility account for over 5% of global LNG supply, and the fault and the strikes did not affect scheduled deliveries, Chevron said, with shipping data on LSEG Eikon also showing exports from Wheatstone were unaffected.
Chevron had said it would maintain supplies from the major LNG terminal in the face of disruptions, which intensified over the weekend as workers escalated their strike action to 24-hour stoppages from brief halts and limited bans on certain tasks.
The strikes were set to run until the end of this month but the Offshore Alliance, a coalition of two unions, on Saturday flagged their intention to extend the industrial action.
Chevron said on Monday it had received from the union notices of work stoppages until Oct. 14.
Chevron and unions were scheduled to hold further talks mediated by the Fair Work Commission on Monday and Tuesday, according to a union representative who declined to be named and was doubtful of a positive result.
Five days of similar talks earlier in the month ended without a deal.
On Friday, Australia's industrial tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, will hear from Chevron and the unions in a bid to resolve the dispute over wages and conditions, and is expected to deliver its ruling soon after.
Australia is currently the world's biggest exporter of the super-chilled fuel, and China and Japan are its top two customers, followed by South Korea and Taiwan.
Wheatstone has an export capacity of 8.9 million tonnes a year and Gorgon has an export capacity of 15.6 million tonnes a year.
