Norway strike could cut gas output by 13% next week

A planned strike by Norway's oil and gas sector workers is poised to have a substantial impact on gas exports, with losses of about 13% of the country’s daily gas exports, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG) announced on Monday.

NOG said the Lederne union had already given notice that it will take 74 members out on strike on Equinor's Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East offshore platforms and that operations would shut down as a result of the stoppage.

The association also confirmed that a further extension of the strike had been notified for July 6, when 117 members of the Heidrun, Aasta Hansteen and Kristin offshore fields will go on strike.

"The result will be a daily loss of oil output totaling 130,000 barrels, while gas production will fall by 292,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day or 13 percent of the total for the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS)," NOG said.

These reductions are a consequence of Lederne calling a strike after it became known on June 30 that the union’s members had rejected a settlement for the offshore collective pay agreements negotiated through mediation earlier in June.

Lederne has operator-employed members in the following companies: Equinor, ConocoPhillips Norge, Neptune Energy Norge AS and OKEA ASA.

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