Norway's Equinor aims to continue production despite strike

Oil major Equinor will seek to maintain production at western Europe's largest producing oilfield despite a strike among some of the field's workers, the company said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Norway’s Lederne labour union and the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG), which represents the industry, said wage talks had failed and that a shutdown of Norway’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield was imminent.

Equinor, which operates the field, was determined to maintain output however.

“Johan Sverdrup production hasn’t been shut down and no shut down activity at Johan Sverdrup has been initiated, we are looking at how we can continue the production,” Equinor spokesman Morten Eek said.

The field has an output capacity of 470,000 barrels of crude per day (bpd), close to a quarter of Norway’s oil output and about 12% of the country’s combined oil and gas production.

Members of two other unions, Industri Energi and Safe, separately said they will not go on strike.

Sverdrup’s technical production capacity was increased in April from an original 440,000 bpd.

The government recently said the field’s output should be limited to an average of 415,500 bpd as part of Norway’s agreement with OPEC and other producing nations to curb output until the end of 2020.

Norway pumps just over 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, half in the form of crude and other liquids and half from natural gas, making it a major global energy supplier.

The NOG said Lederne had demanded a larger pay rise for its members than the two other unions, although Lederne disputed that claim.

The union said companies had been unwilling to adjust contracts to reflect changes in work practices, adding that this would not cost more.

“This strike could be short-lived if employers were to offer a speedy resolution to what we have asked for during the talks,” Lederne union chief Audun Ingvartsen said.

Source: Reuters

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