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The labor union for Australia's offshore oil and gas workers has called off plans for a strike at the giant Ichthys LNG terminal in Western Australia. The Offshore Alliance said that negotiations with management were proceeding, and the labor action that its members approved earlier in the month will be deferred. The news will be welcome for Asian utilities, which have been paying elevated prices for LNG since the start of the U.S./Israeli conflict with Iran; any interference with Ichthys' operations could affect about 10 percent of Australian export volume in an already-tight regional supply situation.
Ichthys is a large offshore gas field located off the north end of Western Australia, a remote region with few inhabitants. Developed by Japanese firm Inpex, it was the largest Japanese overseas investment of any kind at its launch in 2018. Its wellheads are connected by pipeline to a shoreside liquefaction plant located in the nearest community - Darwin, some 430 nautical miles away to the east. The plant can produce about nine million tonnes per annum of LNG.
Last week, the Offshore Alliance - a joint representation body created in 2018 by the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Workers Union - called a strike for May 27, saying that talks with Inpex had stalled.
"Our dispute with Inpex's Australian management team will go as long as it takes for Inpex's senior management . . . to agree to benchmark pay and conditions and secure jobs," the union said in a statement.
Earlier in the month, the Offshore Alliance called a strike of contract maintenance workers at the Karratha and Pluto LNG export terminals, both operated by Woodside and maintained by contractor UGL. The union accused UGL of "inability to negotiate or accept industrial standards" during talks for a new labor agreement. The union said that the strike would be held indefinitely until a deal was reached. Taken together, Karratha and Pluto LNG have a nameplate capacity of about 19 million tonnes per annum.
Fuente: The Maritime Executive
