Chevron’s Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant has resumed operations after a fault cut production by around one-fifth last week.
The oil and gas giant announced on Monday that production had returned to levels prior to when a turbine tripped at the plant in Western Australia. However, production remains down due to ongoing strikes.
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After a meeting with Chevron, the Offshore Alliance union coalition said in a Facebook post that workers had almost unanimously voted down the proposal concerning pay and conditions from Chevron on Friday. According to the union, Chevron has “no idea, no clue” and are “completely out of touch with our members”.
During the strike, which involved 500 employees at Wheatstone and the nearby Gorgon facility, a Chevron statement said: “LNG continued to be produced at approximately 80% of usual rates and vessel loading continued.” The strike stopped work for the second consecutive day on Sunday. While the strike action did not cause the turbine trip at Wheatstone, it did lead to bans on mooring tankers and loading them with LNG.
The Wheatstone plant has a two-train 8.9 million tonnes per year LNG production capacity, while the Gorgon plant has a three-train 15.6 million tonnes per year capacity. Between them, the two plants make up more than 5% of global LNG production.
Despite Chevron’s claims that strike activity was not disrupting output, the Offshore Alliance said that the four-hour delay in LNG being shipped from Wheatstone on Friday was the fault of the non-union workers. On social media, the union posted: “It is pretty clear that Chevron’s so-called contingency workforce aren’t up to it.”
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By GlobalDataOn Monday, a Chevron statement said that it had received from the union notices of stoppages until 14 October. On Friday, Chevron and the unions will attend an industrial tribunal by the Fair Work Commission in an attempt to resolve the dispute over wages and conditions. The tribunal will deliver a verdict soon after.
