RE: Interim report23 Aug 2023 11:16
Hold your breath. Or don't. But Australia strike decision is expected on Friday.
The risk of industrial action disrupting LNG deliveries out of the world’s third-largest producer edged closer on Tuesday as negotiations with Australian energy suppliers faltered ahead of a potential strike decision for Friday.
While there had been “some progress” in the negotiations, the two sides were still “nowhere close enough to an agreement and the inevitability of a strike is getting greater”, a source close to the negotiations told Montel.
The Woodside operated North West Shelf liquefaction facility, the country’s biggest plant, is the first of three.
Negotiators of the Offshore Alliance, a partnership between two unions, also held formal talks with Chevron on Monday over potential strikes in two other LNG facilities, the Gorgon facility – the country’s second largest LNG plant – and the Wheatstone plant. Their combined annual capacity is of around 41.4m tonnes/year – or nearly half of Australia’s capacity – and account for around 10% of global production.
Any decision to go on strike would likely be gradual, the source said, adding “it would be a combination of different work stoppages that would ultimately slow and even stop production”.
The benchmark front-month contract on the Dutch TTF hub is spiking 15% amid uncertainty over the strike, but nowhere close to last week's highs.
Last year a strike in the floating Prelude facility lasted 75 days, so it's not impossible.
But negotiations are ongoing and often involve posturing, as other instances in Australia and in other countries remind us.
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