North Sea Oil Fields to Resume Pumping
The three-week strike that shut down Norway’s North Sea oil fields ended Friday, and oil company officials said that production could resume this weekend.
The strike kept about 900,000 barrels a day of Norwegian oil and liquid natural gas out of the glutted world petroleum market.
Analysts estimate the world surplus already is at 2 million to 2.5 million barrels a day, and the resumption of Norwegian production could help depress prices.
CAF, the 675-member food service employees union, had struck over demands for a 28% pay hike that would have put them on an equal footing with oil rig workers. The employers rejected the demands and locked out all 3,700 oil workers.
The unions decided to quit their walkout at a joint meeting in Stavanger, the Norwegian oil center, shortly after Labor Minister Arne Rettedal told both sides that the government would impose a unilateral settlement on the deadlocked wage dispute by mandatory arbitration.
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