Drilling stops at the largest gas supplier to Europe

Immediately, about 1,000 Norwegian oilfield service company workers were suspended from work due to a labor dispute, which is expected to stop drilling and part of production on the Norwegian continental shelf.

"The lockout was announced in response to the ongoing strike of several hundred members of the Safe trade union and will affect companies such as SLB, Halliburton, Subsea 7, DOF Subsea, Weatherford, DeepOcean and Baker Hughes," Reuters reports with reference to the Offshore Norway industry association.

They noted that oil and gas production in the country may decrease by about 12 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Offshore Norway said that about 1,000 members of the Safe trade union, which are covered by the agreement on the provision of well maintenance services, will be forced to stop work due to the lockout.

"Four mobile drilling rigs, five stationary rigs and one repair vessel have already completely stopped drilling and well work due to the strike," Offshore Norway said.

It is assumed that the effect of the strike may intensify and production losses will amount to 120 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day if the situation is not resolved by mid-July. This volume is equal to 6% of the total oil production in the country.

Norway is Europe's largest supplier of pipeline gas and produces about 2% of the world's oil.

The Safe union went on strike on June 15 after failing to reach a wage agreement, while another union, Styrke, accepted the offer.