Norwegian oil companies, labour unions agree wage deal

Norwegian oil companies have come to a wage agreement with employees, three labour unions and an industry association said on Wednesday, preventing the potential outbreak of a strike among workers later this year.

Norway is western Europe's largest oil and gas producer, pumping about 2.1 million barrels of oil liquids per day (bpd) while gas production amounts to around 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed).

The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG), which negotiated on behalf of energy companies, said each worker's annual wage will increase by 20,100 Norwegian crowns ($2,409).

Last year, a 10-day labour conflict involving members of the Lederne union cut Norway's daily output by around 8% and had threatened to increase the outage to around 25% before a bargain was struck.

The Lederne union's 1,000 members had retained the right to go on strike again this year if no deal was reached. The larger Industri Energi and Safe unions, which were also part of the talks, did not have the right to strike however.

Lederne, Safe and Industri Energi all confirmed they had signed the agreement.

The talks covered 7,000 workers in total, mostly rig operators, drillers and service staff at 14 companies including Equinor, Aker BP, Lundin Energy and ConocoPhillips, the NOG has said.

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