The Federation of Oil Workers' Trade Unions (OFS) has announced that around 30 employees on the Heimdal platform will be taken out on strike from midnight Sunday 27 June.
The escalation of the strike would stop all processing and transport of gas via Heimdal. This will result in a stoppage of gas export from the Oseberg Field Centre and significantly reduced oil production from the Grane field. Both the Heimdal, Oseberg and Grane installations are operated by Hydro.
In addition to its own production of gas and condensate, the Heimdal platform also processes gas from the fields Huldra, Vale and Skirne. If processing and transport from Heimdal have to stop, they will also have to stop production. The total gas production from these fields is at present around 14 million cubic metres a day.
The workers on Heimdal are also resonsible for the running and monitoring of Heimdal Riser Platform, which is operated by Gassco. The escalation of the strike will mean that all gas transport via Heimdal Riser Platform will stop. The total transport of gas via Heimdal Riser Platform is currently around 23 million cubic metres per day.
Produced gas from Oseberg and Tune can be reinjected in the oil reservoirs. This means that oil production from the Oseberg field will not be significantly affected.
A stoppage to gas export from Heimdal will also mean that the Grane field will not receive gas for injection, and production will fall rapidly from the present level of around 120,000 barrels down to 20,000 barrels per day.