NRGU - Equinor shuts down three North Sea oilfields due to strike

Equinor ( NYSE: EQNR ) said Tuesday it has initiated a shutdown of the Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East fields in the North Sea after the start of a strike by some Norwegian offshore workers demanding wage hikes to compensate for rising inflation.

A collective pay deal proposed by employer body Norwegian Oil and Gas Association was accepted by two unions that jointly represent 85% of operator employees on the Norwegian continental shelf, but members of the Lederne union rejected the deal and voted to strike.

Production from Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East totals 89K boe/day.

The striking workers said they will stop work at the Heidrun, Kristin and Aasta Hansteen fields, taking effect on July 6; total production from these fields is ~333K boe/day, of which 264K boe/day are natural gas.

The strike could reduce oil and gas production at a time when supplies of natural gas to Europe are tight due to Russia's export cutbacks.

"Their action is set to exacerbate the pain of rising price s and is leading to even tighter supply in the already squeezed energy market," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter told Reuters.

September Brent crude oil ( CO1:COM ) -1.5% $111.75/bbl, as concerns of a possible global recession that would hurt fuel demand outweighed supply disruption fears.

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