The Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) and the employee associations, the Federation of Oil Workers' Trade Unions (OFS) and the Norwegian Association for Supervisors, failed to reach agreement in their annual wage negotiations. The unions went on strike in the early hours of Friday 18 June - a strike that will have considerable consequences for activities on Snorre, Ekofisk, Bravo and Ringhorne.
OFS and the supervisors' association went on strike in the early hours of Friday 18 June.
According to OLF, the two unions were asking for more than OLF had already promised the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemical Workers' Union (Nopef), the biggest union on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The strike will mean a production stoppage on the Statoil operated Snorre A and B fields and the associated Vigdis field.
It will also impact on activities on Ekofisk 2/4 Kilo and Bravo, which are operated by ConocoPhillips, and Ringhorne, operated by ExxonMobil.
In total, these fields normally produce around 455,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day (boepd). No Hydro-operated field is affected by the strike.
Hydro has a 6.65% ownership interest in Ekofisk 2/4 and 17.6% in Snorre. Hydro's share of production from these fields is roughly 3,500 boepd from Ekofisk and just less than 43,000 boepd from the Snorre area.
Hydro's total production will be approximately 46,500 boepd lower than normal for the duration of the strike.