European Natural Gas Prices Soar Due to Threatening LNG Strike in Australia

Europe's Natural Gas prices surged again on Friday, August 18, by 6.5 % compared to the previous week's record and closed at a value of 35.577 euros per Megawatt (MWh), in Hamburg, Germany, as per Chemanalyst as the market is little skeptical about whether Australia's LNG worker's strike will cripple 10% of global Natural Gas supply. Workers and Natural Gas distributors in Australia are looking for a possible solution to the dispute about pay and work conditions, on which Natural Gas workers had threatened to strike on or before September 2 if terms and conditions could not be met.

On Thursday morning, the workers union is supposed to meet to vote on whether to endorse the terms of the deal and withdraw the strike notice at Woodside's North West Shelf, Australia's largest LNG facility. Earlier this month, Australia's labor regulator gave a green signal to industrial action at Woodside and Chevron Natural Gas production facilities. Market are keeping their eyes on the announcement of Australia's Offshore Alliance—an alliance between the Australian Workers' Union and the Maritime Union of Australia—that the talks are in progress with labor unions aimed at preventing industrial action. Details of the meeting will be shared after the settlement.

According to data, Woodside has the capacity to produce 16.9 million tons of Natural Gas annually, the largest production project in Australia. This is followed by Chevron's Gorgon and Wheatstone, with an annual capacity of 15.6 million and 8.9 million tons of Natural Gas, respectively.

According to the deal, if Woodside workers accept the terms, U.S. Chevron will be the sole operator in the western Australian gas field. Any conflict between workers could disrupt the supply from Australia, the world's largest LNG exporter, which will lead Asian buyers to overtake European customers to attract cargoes. As per the forecast, Europe's Natural Gas price can exceed 100 euros if the strike continues. Woodside and Chevron are both trying constructively to solve the issue.

However, Natural Gas prices in Europe may slump with easing market tensions over the labor dispute in Australia. The Natural Gas market seems to be extremely volatile now as market participants are closely revolving around the expectation of any positive outcome of the talks between Australia's largest Natural Gas supplier and the trade unions over the dispute. There should be more clarity in Natural Gas markets about Australia's Natural Gas supply by the end of the day.