Oil Industry gives lockout warning

The Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) gave an advance notice of a complete lockout of the 6515 workers covered by the offshore pay agreements from 00.00 on Tuesday 10th of July. This follows a strike from the unions. The biggest fight is still over the pension scheme. OLF has already offered high pay rises of more than five per cent. The two sides with Industry Energy (Industri Energi), the Organisation of Energy Personnel (SAFE) and the Norwegian Organisation of Managers and Executives (Lederne) representing the employees are reportedly still far apart.

Statoil (OSE:STL, NYSE:STO) is already preparing to shut down all of its production on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). This would result in a production shortfall of 1.2 million boe per day, worth approximately 520 million NOK. It takes 1-4 days to shut down fields, depending on the complexity of the said field. The unprecedented steps put Norway’s reputation as a reliable supplier at risk. The total average daily production of the industry from NCS is 2 million boe of oil, NGL and condensate and 1.8 million boe of gas.