– We press the big alarm button – E24

Guards have gone on strike at helipads along the coast, making it difficult to change the guards on oil rigs. In addition, projects in development are affected.

“We are pressing the big alarm button now, because the consequences are very serious for the Norwegian continental shelf, both for personnel and for operations,” Norwegian oil and gas chief Anniken Hauglie tells E24.

The lack of employees may significantly reduce production on the Norwegian platform, the trade association fears.

– This happens in the same year that the industry had to ask for help from society. We were on our knees because of the pandemic and falling oil prices, and this is very, very serious, says Hauglie.

You can lose 900 million a week

E24 wrote on Friday that around 5,000 Equinor employees are unable to arrive or leave the facility at sea. This means, among other things, that around 450 workers do not go out to the fields of Martin Linge or Johan Sverdrup.

– If those projects are delayed in start-up, it will result in a loss of NOK 900 million per week, says Hauglie.

Equinor itself has calculated the reduced present value of the fields.

Equinor also estimates that a reduction in drilling activities on its rigs means reduced revenue of NOK 220 million per week, based on figures E24 has received from Norwegian Oil and Gas. This is in addition to costs of more than NOK 100 million per week due to lack of personnel changes.

– We are talking about enormous values ​​for the company and the community, says Hauglie.

You must close fields

Hauglie notes that it is especially in recent weeks that people have started to notice the seriousness of the situation, now that more or less all the helipads are closed or have reduced capacity.

– Anything that leads to reduced activity is serious for us, because the economy is very large. The severity has gradually increased with each withdrawal, but now we notice that there is great concern that this lasts over time, says Hauglie.

The security strike has lasted since mid-September and is one of the longest in recent times in Norway.

– How long can the strike last before it becomes really serious?

– Not many days. Many of our fields will be closed if this continues, and we will begin closing fields in the coming weeks. We’re already working overtime, says Hauglie.

Equinor has already said that they do not rule out having to stop production if logistics between sea and land do not increase.

Facilities closed for one day

The Nyhamna processing plant closed on Saturday after four security guards went on strike at the plant. Nyhamna receives gas from the Aasta Hansteen and Ormen Lange fields.

The operator Gassco was not granted a waiver from the strike at the plant, but on Saturday night Shell, responsible for emergency preparedness at the plant, found another solution, NRK reported. According to Gassco, emergency preparedness tasks must be managed with their own resources.

When it emerged that Nyhamna could be affected by the strike by the security guards earlier this week, E24 asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs if they would do something.

“The strike is a legal tool. It is also the responsibility of the parties to find a solution in this situation. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is following the strike in the usual way,” the ministry wrote in a statement.

Don’t believe the forced salary table

The Norwegian Workers’ Union (NAF) has more than 2,000 guards on strike.

When the oil and gas industry is now shouting warnings of big losses, union secretary Terje Mikkelsen at NAF hopes he can put pressure on NHO Service and Trade, which is the bosses’ side in wage negotiations.

At the start of the strike, the union stayed away from the oil and gas industry, but the strike has escalated several rounds to hit it as well.

– When we started the conflict, our idea was that we should take it very carefully considering the situation in which Norway finds itself, and affect third parties to a small extent. Now we’ve come so far that we have to tense up a bit, says Mikkelsen.

-Do you think that the fear of losses in the oil industry leads him to go to the mandatory salary board?

– There is no immediate danger to life and health, so I do not see it at all, says Mikkelsen and points out that it is an evaluation made by the government.

“We have been conscious at all times to stay away from infection control and hospitals to avoid a forced wage board,” says Mikkelsen.

I’ve been to the payroll committee before

Also in 2012, the oil industry was hit by strikes. The oil workers went on strike for about two weeks before being detained by a forced wage board.

At that time, the employers’ side, the Norwegian Petroleum Industry Association (OLF), was ready to introduce a lockout on the Norwegian platform to prevent employees from working. Then, all Norwegian oil and gas production would have stopped and caused a loss to companies and society of NOK 1.8 billion a day, according to calculations by OLF.

– Was the oil rent the main reason why a salary board was forced? Asked then-Labor Minister Hanne Bjurstrøm.

– No, there are several factors here. Trust in Norway as a supplier is the first to weaken. Then there is the delivery to Europe. Of course, it is also the financial part, but it takes a lot before you go in with a salary table for that alone, Bjurstrøm said six years ago.