Explainer-Chevron Australia LNG workers start strike. What happens now?
By Emily Chow and Lewis Jackson
SINGAPORE/SYDNEY (Reuters) — Workers at Chevron (NYSE:CVX)'s liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Australia, which produce 5.1% of the world's supply of the super-chilled fuel, went on strike on Friday after mediation talks ended without a deal.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Unions kicked off action with short work stoppages and bans on certain tasks, but plan to escalate to a total strike within two weeks if there is no deal.
Until next Wednesday, workers will stop work for up to 11 hours in several blocks per day and refuse to perform certain tasks, including working overtime. If there is still no deal by then, the unions will completely stop work for two weeks.
A week of negotiations run by a federal mediator ended on Friday without agreement, and no further talks are planned for now.
A union representative who declined to be named told Reuters on Friday the union remained available for talks but added: «we'll be digging in for extensive [protected industrial] action.»
Chevron has said it would continue to take steps to maintain operations if any disruptions occur, without giving details.
WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT ON PRICE AND OUTPUT?
Australia was the world's largest LNG exporter last year, shipping out 80.9 million metric tons of the fuel in 2022 versus 79 million tons in 2021, according to the International Gas Union.
The bulk of LNG exports from Chevron's Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities head to Japan, followed by South Korea, China and Taiwan.
«We expect an unscheduled outage will likely deliver some short-term spot price volatility, given we believe the global LNG market remains finely balanced,» said National Australia Bank (OTC:NABZY) (NAB) analyst Baden Moore.
«Duration of the outage will be
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