Norway was restarting some key oil and gas fields yesterday after the country’s government ordered an end to a strike by offshore workers.
Part of the workforce is still unhappy about pensions and retirement issues, but it cannot resume industrial action for at least two years.
Leif Sande, leader of Industri Energi, the biggest of the three unions which led workers out on strike on June 24, said: “We are not going to give up, but now we have to wait another two years before we can take new actions legally.”
The strike had choked off some 13% of Norway’s oil production and 4% of its gas output, and pushed oil prices above $100 a barrel on fears of a full loss of supply from the world’s eighth largest oil exporter. About 10% of Norway’s 7,000 offshore workers – the best paid in the global oil industry – went on strike over demands for full pensions at 62.
Employers threatened a complete shutdown of the entire Norwegian continental shelf, putting pressure on the government to intervene and force a settlement in the strategic industry.
The government intervened late on Monday, ordering staff back to work.
Oil prices fell more than 1% yesterday after the end of the oil workers’ strike and data which showed that China imported less crude oil in June than in May.
In London, Brent August crude was down $1.37 to $98.95 a barrel after having fallen as much as $2.10 to $98.22.
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