Gorgon workers to strike on Friday, demanding family-friendly rosters
By Rebecca Carmody

Hundreds of construction workers on Australia's biggest resource project, Chevron's Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island, will walk off the job for 24 hours on Friday.

Their unions have given notice of a 24-hour stoppage starting at 5:00am at the project off Western Australia's Pilbara coast.

They are employed by contractor Chicago Bridge and Iron and want to change their roster from 26 days on, nine off to what the unions say is a more family-friendly schedule of 20 days on and 10 off.

The ABC understands it is the first in a series of protected actions to hit the $55 billion project.

Industrial action has also been slated for September 7 and 11, but limited to under three and a half hours at a time.

It is the first time industrial action has been taken since construction commenced in 2009.

The workers belong to the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and the Electrical Trades Union.

Employer groups have warned against industrial action, saying it is against the national interest.

Cost of Australia’s Gorgon LNG project rises to $54bn
By Ed Crooks

Gorgon, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas development, has slipped further behind schedule and over budget, admitted Chevron, the oil and gas company leading the Australian project.
The plant’s expected cost, which was estimated at $37bn when it was launched in 2009, was raised to $52bn last year, and has now been increased again to $54bn.

First deliveries of LNG are now expected in “mid-2015”, Chevron said, a delay of a few months from its previous target of the first quarter of that year.

The rising costs and delays at the plant, which is one of the most expensive investment projects of any kind anywhere in the world, offer another sign of the challenges faced by Australian LNG developments.

Large gas discoveries have meant that the country is on course to be the largest contributor to increases in global LNG supplies in the current decade. However, soaring labour costs, the rise in the Australian dollar and the technical challenges of operating in difficult and remote locations have undermined the economics of the export projects.

George Kirkland, Chevron’s vice-chairman, said in a statement on Wednesday that the economics of Gorgon were still “attractive”.

He added that the company was applying lessons learned at Gorgon, which is now 75 per cent complete, to its $29bn Wheatstone project, also in Australia, which is only 25 per cent complete.
He added: “These LNG developments are two of our most important future legacy assets, representing approximately 400,000 barrels a day of net production at full capacity. They will be substantial contributors to our cash flow for decades to come.”

Chevron had already signed long-term contracts for 75 per cent of its offtake from the two projects, he added.

However, the company has sounded sceptical about the prospect of adding a fourth “train”, as LNG production lines are known, to the three already under construction at Gorgon.

Chevron revealed the fresh delays and cost over-run at Gorgon as it set out a reduction in its overall capital spending for next year. It plans to invest $39.8bn in 2014, including its share of investment by associated companies, compared with $42bn in 2013.

Western oil companies have been under pressure from analysts and investors to curb their investment programmes and return more capital to shareholders.

It is a two-year old article. What exactly is your point?