Chevron workers escalate strikes, putting global gas supplies at risk

Workers at Chevron’s two liquified natural gas plants in Australia — which accounted for 7% of global LNG supply last year — escalated their strikes, union representatives said. Workers may soon go on a total strike or hours-long work stoppages ahead of a tribunal hearing. Meanwhile, a fault at one of the plants temporarily shut output by 25% on Wednesday. LNG prices have risen on the back of the strikes, while analysts are bracing for increased volatility in gas markets in the months ahead.

While Chevron is betting on a swift resolution of the dispute in a tribunal, the market was appeased on Thursday at news that a major LNG export terminal in Texas is restarting after outages disrupted operations at the Freeport gas plant over the past week

1 . To break the stalemate at its Australian facilities, Chevron has asked Australia's industrial relations tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, to intervene. The tribunal, which will hear the case on Sept. 22, is empowered under new laws to force both sides into an agreement