Peru Workers Plan Strike That Could Disrupt LNG Exports
Natural gas workers in Peru plan to hold an indefinite strike starting Dec. 29 that would disrupt production of the widely-used fuel as well as Royal Dutch Shell Plc's liquefied natural gas exports, the union SUTRAPPEC said Thursday. Some 200 unionized workers needed to operate Peru's Camisea gas fields will down tools to press Argentine energy company Pluspetrol to offer better wages and benefits in a new labor agreement, said SUTRAPPEC spokesman Juan Carlos Vargas. Pluspetrol owns a controlling stake - 27.2 percent - in the Camisea consortium that produces the vast majority of Peru's natural gas from a remote jungle region. Pluspetrol and Netherlands-based Shell, which exports liquefied natural gas derived from Camisea gas production, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dockworkers Union At Peru's Top Port Reach Deal
The dockworkers union at Peru's biggest port, Callao, has reached a contract agreement to end a three-week strike, with provisions that include improved benefits and modifications to a system for scheduling shifts, union officials said on Friday. Members of the union, SUTRAMPORPC, have voted to back the deal and will sign it with the company late on Friday, general secretary Geraldo Honores said. The stoppage since May 13 held up imports and will likely stoke inflation, an exporters' association said earlier this week. The union represents 650 workers at Callao's northern terminal, which is operated by APM Terminals. APM, owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk, did not immediately respond to requests for official comment.
Natural Gas Workers in Peru May Strike
Natural gas workers in Peru, South America's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, said on Friday they had pulled out of wage talks with Argentine energy company Pluspetrol and would vote on a possible strike in a few weeks. Pluspetrol leads the consortium that taps Peru's Camisea fields, the source of the country's daily natural gas output of around 1.2 billion cubic feet. Juan Carlos Vargas, a spokesman for the SUTRAPPEC union that represents 193 of the 494 Camisea workers, said a walkout would halt natural gas production. "There would be no one to pump the gas," Vargas said. Vargas said the union decided on Friday to end the talks that started in July. A vote on whether to strike will take place in three weeks. Pluspetrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment.