LONDON — A strike by workers in the Norwegian oil sector could soon wipe out nearly one-quarter of the country's petroleum output, Norway's Oil and Gas Association warned on Thursday, with the intensifying dispute helping oil prices to build on recent gains.
International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $43.09 a barrel on Thursday afternoon, up more than 2.6%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures stood at $41.01 a barrel, around 2.7% higher.
The dispute between Lederne union and the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association began when talks collapsed on Sept. 30, prompting production outages from Oct. 5.
Lederne is pushing for the organization to match the pay and conditions at onshore remote-control rooms with those of offshore workers. The striking union told CNBC that this request would not impose an additional cost on companies.
"Lederne fear that this is the start of a deterioration of our members' accumulated pay and working conditions, and therefore see no other option than to use the right to strike when negotiations and mediation do not succeed," the union said via email.
At present, 169 Lederne members are on strike on four platforms: Johan Sverdrup, Gudrun, and Gina Krog (all operated by Norway's state-controlled energy giant Equinor), and Gjoa (operated by Neptune Energy).
From midnight on Oct. 10, Lederne said an additional 93 members on the following platforms would also go on strike: Kristin, Oseberg Sor, Oseberg Ost (all operated by Equinor), and the Ekofisk Bravo/Kilo installation (run by U.S. producer ConocoPhillips).