Norway's Offshore Oil Workers Threaten To Strike
About 11% of Norway's offshore oil workers have threatened to strike, according to labor union data cited by Reuters on Tuesday.
Of Norway's 7.500 offshore oil and gas workers, about 845 are threatening to strike starting on Sunday should wage mediation with the state fail.
The strike, according to trade unions Industri Energi, Lederne, and Safe, the 845-member strong strike would have a limited impact on Norway's oil throughput.
"A strike would not initially affect Norway's gas exports, given the current situation in Europe," Safe said on Tuesday.
The trade unions are trying to strike a balance between effective labor negotiations and the critical needs of Europe to maintain adequate levels of oil and gas while prices are already sky high.
Norway's offshore workers are hoping to secure pay increases that are more than inflation, as well as other contract changes, although the details of their asks have yet to be revealed.
While the labor unions have stressed that their strike would have a limited impact on production, Norway's state-run oil company, Equinor, said it was too early to determine what impact the strikes would have on production.
The strikes would affect 10 permanent offshore oil installations, including the 45,700 boepd Gudrun installation.
Mediation is expected to take place this Friday and Saturday.
The tension between Norway's oil employers and its oil and gas workers has been building for years, even pre-dating the Covid era by years, with state-appointed mediators often called in to settle the disputes.
Norway produced nearly 1.8 million bpd in February, shipping crude oil to the UK, China, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany. It is also the world's fourth-largest natural gas exporter.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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