Concerns over potential industrial action at three Australian LNG operations - North West Shelf, Gorgon and Wheatstone - sent European gas prices to a nearly 2-month high on Wednesday.
Any industrial action would disrupt Australia's LNG exports and increase competition for the super-chilled fuel, forcing Asian buyers to outbid European buyers to attract LNG cargoes.
About 99% of workers at offshore platforms that supply gas to the Woodside-operated North West Shelf LNG plant, Australia's biggest LNG plant, have voted in favour of a planned strike.
Chevron said it was reviewing the applications from the union to Australia's independent Fair Work Commission (FWC) over planned strikes at its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG plants.
Gorgon, the country's second largest LNG plant, has capacity of 15.6 million metric tons a year and Wheatstone 8.9 million.
Persons:
David Gray, Gorgon, Wheatstone, Brad Gandy, Woodside, Renju Jose, Jacqueline Wong, Sonali Paul
Organizations:
Woodside Petroleum, REUTERS, Northwest Shelf, Chevron, Woodside Energy Group, North West, North West Shelf, LNG, West Shelf, Offshore Alliance, Shell, Wheatstone, Thomson
Locations:
Sydney, Australia, SYDNEY, Japan, Woodside, Chevron