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Woodside and its offshore workers are still at loggerheads after talks on Tuesday ended with significant differences on pay and job security.

The two sides will meet again next week after Woodside negotiators told the Offshore Alliance they needed to consult with their senior management about the pay increase sought by about 185 workers on three offshore platforms, according to a source close to the union not authorised to speak to the media.

The North Rankin platform produces the gas for Australia’s first export of LNG in 1989.Credit: Alamy

If agreement is not reached next Wednesday then industrial action is almost certain, according to the union source, subject to endorsement by the union members later this week.

The offshore platforms supply the North West Shelf project, Australia’s biggest gas export project.

Industrial action at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone gas export projects in WA is also possible after the Offshore Alliance in the past week received Fair Work Commission backing to run three ballots to determine support for action by its about 400 members at the US major’s facilities.

Job security is a sticking point in both companies’ negotiations with the Offshore Alliance of the Australian Workers Union and the maritime division of the CFMEU.

Unions are pushing for agreed manning levels and for contractors to be paid the same as direct employees, which would remove the incentive for Woodside and Chevron to switch to a casual workforce.

The prospect of industrial action at the plants that produce 11 per cent of global liquefied natural gas supply has spooked international markets, especially in Europe with winter approaching without the normal flow of gas from embargoed Russia.

The price of Dutch natural gas futures jumped 12 per cent on Tuesday.

The reality of Australian industrial action may be less drastic than feared overseas. The approved protection action at North West Shelf lists a range of allowed actions, including 30-minute stoppages and bans on the restarting of certain equipment.

It could be some time after any action started that production would be affected, but a small reduction in global supply would still be a huge revenue hit to Woodside and its partners.

A Woodside spokeswoman said it continued to engage constructively in the bargaining process.

“Positive progress is being made, and the parties have reached an in-principle agreement on a number of issues,” she said.

The three gas export plants also supply about 45 per cent of the gas used in WA.

On Tuesday WA Premier Roger Cook told state parliament he had spoken to Woodside and Chevron who assured him they were working through the issue with the unions.

“There is no impact in terms of our domestic gas supply, and if there were, there are actions we could take,” he said.

The state’s plan for energy supply disruption points to its Energy Coordination Act that gives the energy minister emergency powers to direct where gas is shipped within WA. It could be used to ensure that domestic demand was prioritised before exports.

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