Norway Oil And Gas Workers Launch Strike

Norwegian offshore oil workers will strike on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in a stoppage that will reduce oil and gas output since the negotiating parties have not made progress, the union and the lobby representing oil companies said on Monday, Gwladys Fouche and Terje Solsvik reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The Lederne union said on Monday that the strike at the Sleipner, Gullfaks A, and Gullfaks C platforms will be extended until July 9.

"As it stands now, there will be a strike tonight," said a representative for the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG). "The situation is quite locked."

The strike will begin at midnight local time (2200 GMT or 6 a.m. in Manila) at three fields - Gudrun, Oseberg South, and Oseberg East - and will subsequently expand to three more fields - Kristin, Heidrun, and Aasta Hansteen - beginning Wednesday at midnight.

Tyrihans, the seventh field, will have to close because its output is processed by Kristin.

The strike, in which workers are demanding salary increases to compensate for growing inflation, comes in the midst of high oil and gas prices, with supplies of gas to Europe particularly restricted following Russian export cuts.

The Lederne union said on Monday that the strike at the Sleipner, Gullfaks A, and Gullfaks C platforms will be extended until July 9. "As things stand now, it looks like there will be a strike," Lederne union head Audun Ingvartsen told

Equinor has stated that by Tuesday, oil output would be reduced by 89,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) and gas output would be reduced by 27,500 boepd, or 4.4 mcm per day.

According to NOG, a strike would reduce the country's gas output by 292,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 13%, by Wednesday. While a Reuters calculation estimates oil output would be reduced by 130,000 barrels per day, or around 6.5 percent of Norway's production.

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