Norwegian Offshore Wage Deal Averts Strike on Key Assets

Norwegian labor unions representing employees on drilling rigs and floating production platforms have reached a wage agreement with employers, narrowly avoiding a strike that could have impacted more than 600 workers on several important offshore installations.

The agreement was finalized late on Thursday, just before the midnight deadline, according to the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, which negotiated on behalf of employers.

The settlement covers employees working on the Transocean Encourage drilling rig, Odfjell Technology’s Linus rig, the AKOFS Seafarer well intervention vessel, and Equinor’s Gullfaks B platform.

As part of the deal, workers will receive a 5.2 percent general pay increase, matching wage agreements already reached across Norway’s oil and gas industry. Pension contributions will also be increased.

Negotiations involved the unions Styrke, SAFE, and DSO. The broader collective agreement applies to approximately 7,500 offshore workers, easing uncertainty across a significant portion of the sector’s workforce.

Earlier this month, employees directly employed by oil companies were removed from the dispute after another last-minute agreement was reached on June 5. However, a separate dispute involving oil service workers began on June 15 after negotiations with Offshore Norge failed. The initial strike affected employees at 10 service companies, including SLB, DOF, Halliburton, Weatherford, Tios, DeepOcean, Subsea 7, Cactus, Vetco Gray Scandinavia, and Baker Hughes.

Since then, that industrial action has expanded after Offshore Norge extended its strike notice under the well service agreement, bringing more than 1,000 workers into the dispute.