European natural gas futures hit a near two-month high on fears of a strike at an Australian liquefaction plant. Talks with workers over their demands for a wage increase are on Wednesday, but as early as Monday, Dutch gas hub TTF futures rose 10 percent to 42.90 euros/MWh, close to the price of 43.55/42.85 euros reached earlier early August amid new global supply risks.
Unions at Australian energy giant Woodside Energy Group have threatened to strike from September 2 if wages are not raised. Last week, there was talk of strike action at two Chevron offshore plants in Australia.
Woodside Energy Group’s North West Shelf and Chevron-operated Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities together provide about 10 percent of the world’s LNG supplies, prompting fears of disruption to flows. Australia as a whole is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas after Qatar and the US.
Ben McWilliams, a fellow at the Bruegel think tank, warned that the strikes could affect LNG prices globally.
“Australia normally supplies Asia, but if these strikes continue and Australian gas is cut off for Asian consumers, we will see Asian consumers turning and looking, for example, to Qatar and competing with European buyers there,” he told the BBC.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has reduced supplies of natural gas to Europe, prompting countries to look for alternative sources of energy, and many countries rely on liquefied natural gas, the publication notes.
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