Industrial action at Inpex's Ichthys liquefied natural gas facilities continued on Friday after a hearing on the Japanese firm's application to halt the strikes was postponed to Saturday.
Australia's Fair Work Commission confirmed to Reuters that the hearing was deferred to June 13. Inpex said on Friday it was preparing an updated offer for workers.
Inpex was seeking to halt industrial action at the facility where 400 workers escalated their strike on Thursday to periods of up to 12 hours. The strike is scheduled to run until June 23.
Negotiations between the gas producer and the Offshore Alliance failed to resolve key pay and conditions claims. Inpex said on Friday it was preparing an updated offer for workers but did not elaborate.
The company has previously said sticking points in the negotiations included rates of pay, allowances and career progression.
The Ichthys LNG facilities account for about 10 per cent of Australia's crude, risking further tightening global crude markets.
The strike follows a six-month period of bargaining, according to an Alliance spokesman, and would include a ban on loading cargoes of LNG and condensate, a type of light oil.
The Offshore Alliance is made up of the Australian Workers Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, and the Electrical Trades Union is also taking part in the strike.
(Reporting by Nichiket Sunil in Bengaluru and Helen Clark in Perth; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Elaine Hardcastle)