Nigel Wilson – The Maritime Union of Australia is threatening an international industrial campaign to force oil giant ConocoPhillips to employ more East Timorese on projects north of Darwin.

However the first step in the campaign – a bid to disrupt the loading of the first cargo from the new Darwin Liquefied Natural Gas project – appears to have failed.

The Houston-headquartered ConocoPhillips may have delayed a confrontation by arguing tanker crewing is the responsibility of the Japanese companies that have contracted to buy 3.3 million tonnes of LNG a year from the Darwin plant.

MUA national organiser Mick Killick said yesterday ConocoPhillips had an obligation to hire and train East Timorese for its projects in the Timor Sea in areas that were jointly administered with Australia.

He said that under previous arrangements between Australia and Indonesia, labour for Timor Sea projects was to be split 50:50 between the two countries. But no such provision was contained in the Timor Sea Treaty between Australia and East Timor signed in 2002.

The Bahamas-registered LNG tanker Pacific Notus, which can carry 135,000cum of LNG, is moored off Darwin awaiting commissioning of the $US2billion ($2.65billion) plant at Wickham Point.

Loading of the vessel, which is operated by Pacific LNG, a joint venture of Tokyo Gas, Mitsubishi and Nippon Yusen Kaisha, is expected to begin in about a week.

Mr Killick said Australian maritime workers were committed to seeing the Timorese included in the crew. "We've got young Timorese workers training and jobs in the offshore industry in the past and we intend to do it again."

ConocoPhillips spokesman Robin Antrobus said the company had employed many East Timorese on the processing platforms that supply the gas for the Darwin plant, a commitment acknowledged by East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.