An Australian union alliance announced October 18 that it had agreed to endorse deals on pay and work conditions at two Chevron liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities in Western Australia.
The Offshore Alliance union, representing workers at the Gorgon and Wheatstone plants, said that it called off strike actions scheduled for October 19, according to Reuters. Those two plants supply roughly 6% of the world’s LNG.
Offshore Alliance spokesperson Brad Gandy said that workers at the plants have demonstrated “incredible patience.”
"We hope this can now be put to rest, but if Chevron tries to alter the deal again, our members will obviously have no choice but to consider taking protected industrial action," said Gandy.
The Offshore Alliance said that workers will soon hold a vote on the proposed agreements.
Saul Kavonic, a director at Credit Suisse’s Australian Research team covering the oil and gas sector, said that Chevron made “some real compromises” at the last minute of negotiations that allowed a deal to be struck, preventing the potential strikes.
"The outstanding negotiation items were not significant enough that they couldn't be resolved,” Kavonic said. “The risk only arose because trust had broken down between the parties, and emotions can run high by some of the individuals involved."
While the deal will likely end strike risks across Australia’s largest LNG projects, Kavonic said that there is a possibility union talks could arise at smaller Australian gas facilities in 2024.
