Norway oil firms and labour unions seek mediation to avert strike (updated)

Coor Service Management Holding AB

04/05/2022 23:28

(Updates with oil industry representative, smaller unions)
    OSLO, May 4 (Reuters) - Wage talks between Norwegian oil
firms and three labour unions broke down on Wednesday and will
switch to state-led mediation in a bid to prevent strike action
by workers, the unions and companies said.
    If Norway's government-appointed mediator is unable to
broker a deal, union members will be eligible to go on strike,
disrupting output from western Europe's largest oil and gas
producer.
    Mediation in this year's talks is expected to take place in
June, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association has said, although
no date has so far been set.
    Norway produces around 4 million barrels of oil equivalent
per day, almost equally divided between oil and natural gas, and
any production cuts could have significant market impact at a
time of soaring global energy prices.
    The Industri Energi, Safe and Lederne unions had been
negotiating since Tuesday with the Norwegian Oil and Gas
Association, which represents petroleum companies, in a bid to
agree an offshore wage settlement.
    The talks cover wages, benefits and working conditions for
7,300 staff employed by oil firms and industry suppliers,
including Equinor  EQNR.OL , Aker BP  AKRBP.OL , ConocoPhillips
 COP.N , TotalEnergies  TTEF.PA  and Vaar Energi  VAR.OL .
     Wintershall Dea, Repsol  REP.MC , Neptune Energy, OKEA
 OKEA.OL , KCA Deutag Drilling, Sodexo Remote Sites, ESS Support
Services, Coor Service Management and 4Service Offshore Hotels
were also covered by the talks.
    In 2020, the Lederne union, the smallest of the three,
called a strike that cut Norway's output by around 330,000
barrels of oil equivalent per day, corresponding to 8% of the
country's overall production.
    The strike, which lasted 10 days, was split 60% for natural
gas and 40% for oil.
    During the 2020 strike, a last-minute bargain between
Lederne and oil firms prevented an escalation that would
otherwise have raised the outage to almost one million barrels
of oil equivalent per day.
    Separate negotiations covering workers on floating rigs,
onshore oil and gas terminals and offshore service companies are
scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.

 (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)
 ((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70))