Chevron, Woodside say no updates on Australian LNG wage talks as unions file safety complaint

By Lewis Jackson and Alasdair Pal

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Woodside (OTC:) Energy and Chevron (NYSE:) said on Thursday there were no updates on wage disputes at some of Australia’s largest liquefied (LNG) facilities, as the unions involved in talks filed a safety complaint against Woodside.

Woodside’s North West Shelf and Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone Australian LNG operations together supply about 10% of the global LNG market.

Some 99% of the workers on offshore platforms that supply gas to the North West Shelf LNG plant have agreed to let the union take action including calling strikes, which could disrupt shipments and see prices for the super-chilled fuel rise.

Chevron workers are set to vote in the next week on whether to give their union representatives the same powers.

A spokesperson for Woodside said on Thursday there were no additional updates on talks, a day after saying “positive progress” had been made in talks with the Offshore Alliance, an umbrella group representing the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Workers’ Union.

A Chevron spokesperson said there were no updates but the company was continuing to engage with its employees.

On Thursday the Offshore Alliance said in a Facebook (NASDAQ:) post it had filed a safety complaint with the offshore energy regulator the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), regarding substandard living and working conditions at Woodside’s Angel Platform, which is part of the North West Shelf operation.

The Woodside spokesperson declined to comment on the complaint.