Oil and gas workers at the 9.3mn t/yr Ichthys LNG project near Australia's northern city of Darwin will escalate strike actions starting today, according to the Offshore Alliance (OA) union.
Under the latest escalation, union members last night voted to extend work stoppages from the original four hours to eight hours until they reach an agreement with project operator Japanese upstream firm Inpex. Bans on loading and unloading cargoes at the facility will start on 11 June, likely in addition to other work bans to be announced later.
Initial strike action which began on 3 June included union members downing tools between 6am-8am and 6pm-8pm, and bans on overcycle, working past 6am on demobilisation day, and swapping between day shift and night shift without at least four weeks' notice from management.
All three Inpex facilities will be disrupted by stoppages of work and work bans, including the onshore processing facilities and LNG terminal at Darwin harbour, the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) and central processing facility (CPF) units.
About four cargoes per month are expected to be lost from these strikes, traders said. Some producers initially planned to go into the spot market to seek replacement cargoes when news of the strikes first broke out about two weeks ago, they added.
The producers later abandoned their purchasing plans when the union paused strikes planned for 27 and 28 May, due to progress made in bargaining talks, an OA spokesperson said on 26 May.
There are no known negotiations between the OA and Inpex scheduled at this point.
Inpex has not responded to Argus' request for comment.
