Strike vote at major Australian LNG plant set to close

INPEX

24/04/2026 01:25

By Helen Clark and Yuka Obayashi

PERTH/TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) - A vote on whether workers strike at Inpex’s 1605.T Ichthys liquefied natural gas facility in Australia over pay and conditions will close later on Friday, after an employment agreement offered by the Japanese gas giant was refused last week.

A strike at the 9.3 million metric-ton-a-year facility in Darwin could exacerbate already tight energy supplies globally, and is being closely watched by Japanese power and gas utilities that buy from it.

Australia is Japan's largest LNG supplier, and the country is already facing a possible supply crunch due to the Iran war and rising air-conditioning demand as Japan heads into summer.

An Inpex spokesperson said last Friday a majority of eligible employees had rejected a pay deal tabled by the company.

The Offshore Alliance, a grouping of the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Workers Union, had previously flagged that its 430 members would vote against the new contract, which it said does not meet benchmark industry standards for wages and conditions.

The Ichthys workforce is around 95% unionised, according to a union representative.

The protected action ballot was given approval by Australia’s Fair Work Commission earlier in April.

In 2023, a strike by Offshore Alliance members at Chevron’s Wheatstone facility in Australia tightened global LNG supply.

More than 20% of the world’s LNG supply has been constrained by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Iran war on February 28.

(Reporting by Helen Clark in Perth and Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo
Editing by Alasdair Pal)

((Alasdair.Pal@thomsonreuters.com; +61 291 717 228; Reuters Messaging: alasdair.pal.reuters.com@reuters.net/))