Workers continued to strike at three liquified natural gas facilities in Australia operated by Inpex Corp Monday, after Australia’s Fair Work Commission rejected a bid by the Japanese energy giant to halt the strike action.
In a decision handed down Sunday, the Fair Work Commission’s Deputy President Michael Easton denied Inpex’s claim that continuing industrial action would cause significant damage to the Australian economy, following a hearing on Saturday.
Inpex’s Ichthys LNG export project produces up to 9.3 million tons of LNG per year with approximately 70 percent of its output destined for Japan, making up about a tenth of the country’s LNG imports. If the strikes drag on, they could threaten to delay gas shipments to Japan.
In his decision, Easton accepted Inpex’s claim that the strikes could force a week-long shutdown of production but said the company’s evidence that this would damage the Australian economy was not compelling.
The industrial action by some 400 workers at the Ichthys project has been escalating since the beginning of June in a dispute over pay and working conditions. Last week, strikes escalated to eight-hour daily work stoppages, and a ban on loading and unloading cargo began Thursday.
While the eight-hour stoppages were wound back to four hours after last-minute talks ahead of Saturday’s commission hearing, negotiations between Inpex and the workers’ union are expected to continue, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported Sunday.
The strike action to date has delayed at least two shipments of condensates, a type of light oil, bound for Japan and South Korea, according to local newspaper the Australian Financial Review.
© KYODO
