Jera Energy's loading terminal in Australia. The Gorgon LNG Project refers to the large-scale gas fields, including Gorgon and Jansz, located off the northwestern coast of Western Australia, which produce 15.6 million tons of LNG annually.
Sept 8 (Reuters) – Workers at Chevron’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Australia went on strike on Friday after talks broke down without a deal, sending British and European gas prices surging.
The dispute is over wages and conditions at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone operations, which account for over 5% of global supply.
Chevron had been negotiating with the workers for weeks alongside Australia’s Woodside Energy, which had managed to avert the strikes last month after reaching a deal.
The workers are backed by the Offshore Alliance (OA) – which combines the Maritime Union of Australia and Australian Workers’ Union.
Here is a sequence of events leading up to the strike action:
| Date | Development |
| Aug. 9 | Workers at Woodside’s liquefied LNG facilities in Australia vote for industrial action. |
| Aug. 10 | Chevron and Woodside say they are holding talks with union to avert any potential action by the workers. |
| Aug. 11 | Australia’s labor regulator, the Fair Work Commission, allows workers’ union to hold a ballot of employees to decide if they wanted to make a decision on taking industrial action at Chevron’s Gorgon and downstream Wheatstone LNG facilities. |
| Aug. 15 | Negotiations between Chevron, Woodside Energy Group and Australian unions continue but a source with knowledge of the matter tells Reuters that the talks are unlikely to yield results for days. |
| Aug. 16 | Woodside says “positive progress” was being made on talks with a union alliance on disputes over the wages of workers. |
| Aug. 16 | The Offshore Alliance says during the negotiations Woodside was “well off the pace on key bargaining issues including job security and remuneration.” |
| Aug. 18 | Voting opens in Chevron’s facilities to let workers decide if they want to strike due to disputes over wages and working conditions. |
| Aug. 20 | Unions at Woodside’s North West Shelf offshore gas platforms announce plans to strike as early as Sept. 2. |
| Aug. 22 | Woodside CEO Meg O’Neil says the company has had “constructively addressed” several concerns of workers but said it also has a duty to shareholders to be able to run the business. |
| Aug. 23 | Woodside and unions meet for another round of talks to avoid the strikes. |
| Aug. 23 | Chevron’s Australian unit says it would increase domestic gas production capacity at its Wheatstone facility. |
| Aug. 24 | Woodside reaches an in-principle agreement with unions to avert strikes. |
| Aug. 24 | Workers at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone downstream facilities vote to allow unions to call for a strike if necessary. |
| Aug. 25 | Unions at Chevron’s LNG facilities in Australia warn that work stoppages could cost the U.S. energy major billions in exports if workers’ demands on wages and conditions were not met. |
| Aug. 28 | Workers at Chevron’s offshore Wheatstone facility grant unions the power to call strikes on their behalf. |
| Aug. 28 | Unions representing workers at Chevron’s two major Australian LNG complexes say that they will take industrial action from Sept. 7. |
| Aug. 29 | Chevron’s workers release details of industrial action including potential work stoppages of up to 10 hours. |
| Sept. 1 | Chevron workers reject a company pay and conditions offer. |
| Sept. 1 | The offshore alliance says no meetings have been scheduled between unions and Chevron. |
| Sept. 4 | Mediation talks to avert strikes at Chevron’s LNG facilities in Australia begin once again. |
| Sept. 5 | Chevron workers announce plans for total strikes from Sept. 14 if their demands were not met. |
| Sept. 5 | Some employees of Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG facility in Australia offer to work during industrial action in a bid to avert domestic supply disruptions, the Offshore alliance says. |
| Sept. 6 | Workers at Chevron’s LNG facilities agree to pause planned strike action for one day until Sept. 8. |
| Sept. 7 | Chevron’s LNG workers agree to delay the strike until 1 p.m. local time in Perth (0500 GMT) on Sept. 8 from the earlier scheduled start at 6 a.m. in Perth. |
| Sept. 8 | Workers at Chevron’s LNG project begin strike as talks between the company and the unions fail to yield any results. |
(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.
Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.
Join the 109,794 members that receive our newsletter.
Have a news tip? Let us know.
Denmark has rejected a Japanese request to extradite anti-whaling activist Paul Watson over criminal charges dating back more than a decade, a Danish lawyer representing Watson said on Tuesday.
A 37-year-old crew member was saved after spending three harrowing days adrift at sea following alleged abuse aboard a fishing vessel. Afif Efendy, a crew member of the fishing vessel...
British oil and gas major Shell on Tuesday settled a London lawsuit it brought against environmental group Greenpeace after activists boarded a Shell oil production vessel last year.
Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 109,794 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
