Labor unions on Thursday escalated strikes at Chevron Corp.’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities in Western Australia by banning tanker loadings. 

Unions also started 24 sporadic one-hour daily work stoppages at the export terminals and the Wheatstone offshore production platform after first going on strike last week. The actions came the same day as the Offshore Alliance (OA), a partnership between the Australian Workers Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, said an equipment failure at Wheatstone cut liquefied natural gas output in half. 

The unions said a turbine tripped under the supervision of non-unionized workers. Chevron said output was cut by 25%, but added on Thursday that it was working to restart the unit after the issue had been identified. 

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