Norwegian unions representing workers on drilling rigs and floating production platforms have struck a wage deal with employers, avoiding a strike that would have affected more than 600 people on key offshore assets.
The last-minute deal was reached on Thursday evening, close to the midnight deadline, the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association said, which represented employers in the talks.
The deal covers workers on the Transocean Encourage rig, Odfjell Technology’s Linus rig, AKOFS Seafarer well intervention vessel and Equinor’s Gullfaks B platform.
Under the settlement, workers will get a 5.2% general wage increase, in line with other agreements reached across Norway’s oil and gas sector. Pension contributions will also rise.
The wage talks involved Styrke, SAFE, and DSO. The wider agreement covers about 7,500 workers in total, helping ease pressure on a much larger part of the offshore labour force.
The direct oil company workforce had already been removed from the dispute earlier this month, following another last-minute deal on June 5.
But oil service workers went on strike on 15 June after negotiations with Offshore Norge broke down, initially hitting ten service providers including SLB, DOF, Halliburton, Weatherford, Tios, DeepOcean, Subsea 7, Cactus, Vetco Gray Scandinavia, and Baker Hughes.
That dispute has since widened after Offshore Norge extended the stoppage notice under the well service agreement to cover over 1,000 workers.
