Woodside, unions to meet for key talks as strike threats loom over Australia LNG facilities

SYDNEY, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Woodside Energy and unions will meet for a key round of talks on Wednesday in a bid to avoid strikes at Australia's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility as disputes over wages and conditions remained unresolved.

Any disruption to work could slow the exports of the super-chilled fuel from Australia, the world's biggest LNG exporter, which would force Asian buyers to outbid European buyers to attract cargoes.

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Unions representing the offshore platform workers at Woodside's North West Shelf operations have threatened to strike as early as Sept. 2 if their terms are not met. About 99% workers there have already backed industrial action, but the unions have not yet called for a strike.

Unions in Australia are required by law to give companies seven working days' notice before any industrial action, which could range from short work stoppages and bans on certain tasks to an all-out strike. But the union can also elect to call off any action before then.

Woodside on Tuesday said it had "constructively addressed" several concerns of workers but said it also had a duty to shareholders to be able to run the business.

Analysts see global prices remaining stable at least for a month if any strikes happen as risks of production stoppages have been mostly priced in and also as LNG storage levels are high in Asia and Europe.

The talks with Woodside come a day before the close of ballot at U.S. major Chevron's LNG plant at Gorgon and at its Wheatstone operations where workers will be voting to decide whether to allow their unions to call strikes at the two facilities.

North West Shelf, along with the Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities, supply about one-tenth of the global LNG market.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul)