Workers at the multinational oil company Schlumberger in Norway plan to strike from December, demanding better wages and working conditions

Some 262 oil service workers at Schlumberger's Norwegian entity plan to strike from Dec. 3 if talks with employers over wages and working conditions fail. According to Norwegian trade union Safe, the talks cover drillers, well service crews, divers and other workers from oil industry subcontractors Baker Hughes, Vetco Gray, Weatherford, Oceaneering, Schlumberger and Subsea 7.

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Reuters said in an article that if a strike breaks out on Dec. 3, it could intensify in the following weeks to cover workers at other companies.

A Schlumberger strike in Norway – or any other listed company – would not affect ongoing oil and gas production, but would disrupt other functions such as drilling new wells. Among the fields impacted were Gullfaks, Statfjord and Valhall, as well as several mobile offshore drilling rigs.

In total, around 700 workers are covered by the collective bargaining agreement between Safe and the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOGA). The sector's top production workers, who are directly employed by oil companies and therefore not part of the latest talks, hit their wage demands last month after a 10-day strike that cut production and rattled oil markets. energy.

A larger union, Industri Energi, said in October that it had agreed a wage deal for about 6.500 oil workers and that it would not go on strike.

According to Reuters, Safe has said the rights of some of its members have been eroded and fears this could spread, with the potential consequence that wages in certain cases could be reduced by up to 47%.

Separately, on Thursday, the planned escalation of a security strike could shut down a quarter of Norway's gas exports to Europe in the coming days, gas systems operator Gassco said.