Norway offshore workers and employers enter mediation to avoid strike
On Wednesday, Norwegian unions representing offshore drilling platform and 'floating platform' workers began wage negotiations mediated by the state. The aim was to avoid a strike that would have taken place on?Friday and could affect parts of?the oil and gas industry in Norway.
Styrke Safe and DSO have all said that more than 600 workers could walk out at first, with a possibility of an escalation. The wage agreement is for?roughly 7,500 workers.
The first targets of any strike are Transocean’s Encourage platform, Odfjell Technology’s Linus rig and the AKOFS Seafarer vessel.
The impact of a strike on Norway's oil and gas production, which is around 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), was not immediately apparent.
Gullfaks, located in the North Sea, is expected to produce approximately 22,900 boepd by 2025. Operator Equinor did not respond to a request for comment.
Shell's Knarr oil field was shut down in 2018 after a similar 10-day strike of workers on floating installations. On June 5, the unions agreed to a wage agreement for oil company employees, preventing a disruption in production. However, some oil service workers went on strike on Friday June 15. Since then, the dispute has escalated. Employers have imposed a lockout on around 1,000 workers while warning about potential production effects.
The labour ministry is reluctant to intervene in a dispute that threatens national interest. (Reporting and editing by EssiLehto, Essi Adomaitis)
(source: Reuters)
