Norway Oil Strike – Sides Not Talking, Aker BP Warns of Production Hit

Reuters reported that a four-day oil workers’ strike in Norway that may escalate on Monday would have to last a month to impact Aker BP’s production from the Valhall field in the North Sea, the Norwegian energy company said. Hundreds of workers on Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs went on strike on Tuesday after rejecting a proposed wage deal, closing Shell’s Knarr field, which produces 23,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Four days in and the conflicting parties were still not talking to each other, a union official and a mediator told Reuters on Friday.

Mr Karl Johnny Hersvik, Aker BP Chief Executive, said that activity at the Valhall IP water injection and Valhall DP drilling platforms would stop if the strike escalated. He said during the firm’s second-quarter results presentation “If the strike is prolonged it will have later in the year impact on when wells are back in production, if that is going to happen it means the strike has to be quite long.”

Aker BP later told Reuters a strike of a month to six weeks could impact output at the field by “a few thousands barrels per day”.

Investor relations contact Kjetil Bakken said that “Some of the wells that are drilled are planned to be put in production at the end of this year. If the strike lasts, the output will move to next year, which would have an impact on this year’s production outlook.”

Mr Hersvik said that in the short term, Aker BP plans to use any lost drilling time to perform maintenance and activities to raise the flow of oil and gas.

steelguru.comSource: www.worldoil.com