A crisis triggered by an explosion at a Western Australian gas plant will worsen this week, state Premier Alan Carpenter said Sunday as unions warned thousands could lose their jobs.
The June 3 blast at the Apache Energy plant on Varanus Island cut off one-third of the state's gas supply and the company says it will be up to two months before supply is partially resumed.
Carpenter said businesses may have to consider cost-cutting measures as they seek alternative, and more expensive, energy supplies.
"Diesel-fired electricity is far more expensive than gas-fired electricity, so businesses will be making the decision as to whether the increased cost they are going to have to pay for energy warrants them shutting down for a while, or scaling down their production for a while, or standing down their staff for a while," he told reporters.
The premier said the coming weeks would be the most difficult of the crisis, which has slowed some mining production, shut down several building material suppliers and created a shortage of clean linen for the hospitality industry after major laundries scaled back their workload.
"I think the most difficult times are ahead of us. I think this week will be very difficult and I think the following week will be very difficult, and I mean very difficult," Carpenter said.
"It's taken a while for the impact to wash through, but it's really coming upon us now, economically."
Secretary of the Unions WA Dave Robinson said hundreds of workers at laundries, abattoirs, freight companies and in timber-related industries had already been stood down.
He predicted that thousands more could be unemployed as the energy shortage continued.
"There are a whole range of flow-on effects that we haven't even contemplated at this stage," he said.
