Equinor resumes production in North Sea and Shell ships cargo of LNG from Prelude FLNG offshore Australia
Strike action by offshore workers unions in Europe and Australia have eased, allowing Equinor and Shell to resume production, pending future decisions between parties involved.
Equinor said its Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East fields have started run-up of production, after the strike among members of the Norwegian Organisation of Managers and Executives (Lederne) was called off.
“The [Norwegian] Government proposed a compulsory arbitration to resolve the labour dispute between the workers’ organisation Lederne and Norwegian Oil and Gas in connection with this year’s basic collective bargaining agreement,” an Equinor statement read. “Shortly afterwards, work began to restart production safely on the strike-affected facilities. All fields are expected to be back in full operation within a couple of days.”
Equinor initiated a production shutdown at the Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East fields on the Norwegian continental shelf and had revealed plans to extend this to four more wells, as a result of strike action taken by offshore workers over wage demands.
Wage negotiations for offshore personnel between the labour organisations and the employers’ organisation, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, have been ongoing, and in early July, members of workers’ union Lederne voted in a referendum not to accept a proposal tabled by a mediator working with the union and government authorities.
Total production from Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East is around 89,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, of which 27,500 boe per day is natural gas, according to Equinor.
An extension of the strike had been planned for the Heidrun, Kristin and Aasta Hansteen fields, beginning 6 July. Total production from Heidrun, /Tyrihans and Aasta Hansteen is around 333,000 boe per day, of which 264,000 boe per day is natural gas, Equinor said.
In Australia, Reuters reported that Shell loaded an LNG cargo from its Prelude FLNG offshore floating LNG facility as workers eased strike action on the site off Australia’s northwest coast.
“The oil and gas giant slowed output at the 3.6M-tonne per year facility last week during a series of work stoppages by unions fighting for better pay and had warned shipments would be disrupted for at least two weeks,” Reuters reported, noting results from a three-day vote on a new enterprise agreement offer from Shell are due to be announced 11 July.
