Norway oil drilling rig companies start wage mediation with unions

Archer

28/06/2023 09:31

OSLO, June 28 (Reuters) - Owners of floating offshore
oil drilling rigs on Wednesday began a final round of wage talks
with three Norwegian labour unions in a bid to prevent the
outbreak of strike action that could disrupt exploration, but
not production, negotiators said.
    Some 1,644 workers on 12 rigs and drilling vessels operating
in Norwegian waters plan to strike on Thursday for an indefinite
period if the state-led mediation fails, and could be joined by
more members in the near future, the labour unions have said.
    Union officials have said they do not expect a strike to
disrupt the current production of oil and gas but that it could
impact ongoing maintenance and the startup of output from new
fields, thus causing future delays.
    Norway is western Europe's largest oil producing nation and
the biggest supplier of natural gas to Europe.
    The negotiations between the Norwegian Shipowners'
Association and the Industri Energi, Safe and DSO labour unions
comprise 7,500 workers, all of whom could ultimately join the
strike action unless a deal is found.
    Safe, Industri Energi and DSO are negotiating on behalf of
workers on mobile offshore units as well as some platform
drilling crews on permanent installations.
    The companies that would be hit by a strike on Thursday are
subcontractors to oil and gas producers, including Transocean
 RIGN.S , Seadrill  SDRL.OL , Saipem  SPMI.MI , Odfjell Drilling
 ODLO.OL  and Archer  ARCHA.OL .
    Under Norway's tightly regulated collective bargaining
system, unions must give four days' notice before any additional
workers are permitted to join the strike.
    Norwegian petroleum production workers, who are directly
employed by companies such as Equinor  EQNR.OL  and Conoco
Phillips, reached a wage agreement last month, preventing
strikes that could have hit output from major oil and gas
fields.

 (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Nora Buli and Louise
Heavens)
 ((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70))