Workers strike in Norway continues to be the hottest topic of the day as its escalation seriously threatens the Norwegian government. As Reuters reports, the strike among the offshore oil workers will highly probably have a big influence on the production from the six fields with a total output of 330 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The news was announced on Friday by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG) which works to solve current issues for the production of oil and gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and improve its effectiveness. The escalation may be pretty harmful to the country’s economy as about 8% of Norway’s total petroleum output is represented by the six fields. According to the NOG, the escalation will force the shutdown of Gina Krog, Kvitebjorn, Gjoea, and Gudrun fields, where the strike is being held, as well as Valemon and Vega fields.
Possible reasons for the escalation
There are several reasons why this just one simple strike caused such large damage. First of all, in the history of the world, there have been some strikes which became serious problems and even more, sometimes small strikes may even lead to mass disorganizations and riots. But the reason why workers strike has such a big influence on the whole country is that oil is quite a nice metaphor for Norway’s economy in general. Norway is the third-largest gas exporter in the world after Qatar and Russia and the country’s economy is completely dependent on its rates. The European country is so closely tied to its oil production that there is almost no room for mistake. The moment something happens to oil, it is immediately felt by every Norwegian in the country. The currency is devalued, everything grows in price, and projections for economic growth shrink considerably.
Taking this into account, it’s not hard to realize why an offshore oil worker’s strike in Norway had such a huge impact on the whole economy and politics of the country. However, there are still some opportunities for preventing such economy-damaging things to happen. First of all, the Norwegian government owns quite a lot in the country. They own a large chunk of the oil industry and they’ve also monopolized the betting industry completely. As an economy expert Marius Nilsen believes, a perfect way of diversifying would be to simply sell all government-held assets and hope for better re-investment in different fields.
The power of the government in Norway is so big that they own almost every sector in the country, including the gambling sector. Despite the monopoly, Norwegian people are still very interested in betting and gambling, judging by the number and popularity of some Norwegian betting sites. A perfect icon for this would be https://nyecasino.casino/ which provides information on where and how Norwegians can find betting and gambling opportunities. Based on the traffic, it’s easy to say that there is interest. By privatizing this industry, the Norwegian government has a reliable source of income it can utilize to shore up the shortcomings of the oil industry.
The beginning of the strike
In case you don’t know, everything started on Wednesday when Norway’s workers decided to strike after a breakdown of wage talks. The strike was organized by Norway’s Lederne labor union as a result of cutting Norway’s crude oil output capacity by 470 000 barrels of oil per day. There have been 43 workers taking part in the strike, however, despite its small scale, it is expected that the largest field in Western Europe, Enquinor’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield will shut down if the requirements of the workers aren’t satisfied by the government.
Shutting this large offshore field is a direct threat to the economy of Europe, as Norway supplies over 20% of the EU’s gas demands, which is quite a big number. Norway pumps over 4 million barrels of crude and liquid oil equivalent per day, which makes it a vital global energy supplier in the whole of Europe.
However, companies don’t seem afraid as they refused to adjust contracts to change work conditions. BOG still tries to negotiate with the three labor unions gone to strike on behalf of the Norwegian oil industry.
Seems like the end of the strike is not even close, as the Lederne union decided to take a total of 126 union members on strike, in addition to already striking employees who stopped working at Sverdrup on Monday. The excuse of all the mess was a failure to mediate wage talks with the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association on Monday.
Among other unions, two larger offshore worker unions have agreed to new wage deals. Industri Energi and Safe are the only unions who denied entering a strike and fighting for improving employees’ working conditions. While others are seeking better financial terms for the members of the Lederne and other unions who work remotely and reduce the costs. But NOG is not going to concede, stating that Lederne’s requirements are far from the offshore wage agreement.
Conclusion
Finally, we can say that the economy of Norway and the whole of Europe is under a great challenge, and if NOG continues to deny compromising, the situation will worsen and probably become a part of the history of the world’s small worker strikes which turned into a mass civil unrest.
Discussion about this post