Friday, 19 June 2026

Norwegian trade union SAFE began strike action on the Norwegian continental shelf after negotiations with employer group Offshore Norge on the Well Service Agreement collapsed over the weekend, with 154 members walking out the following day.

A further 224 SAFE members will join the strike from Thursday, according to Rigzone. Affected companies include SLB, which accounts for 177 of those members, alongside Cactus, Subsea 7, Weatherford, DeepOcean, Vetco Gray Scandinavia and Baker Hughes.

SAFE says the Well Service Agreement has fallen behind other oil industry collective bargaining areas, lagging by a full wage settlement over the last five years.

The walkout follows a separate deal reached between Offshore Norge and trade union Styrke on the Oil Service Agreement. That contract covers about 7,200 workers from nearly 50 companies, according to a statement by Offshore Norge.

Under the Styrke agreement, salary grid rates will rise by NOK 47,000 effective 1 June 2026, including offshore compensation and holiday pay.

An earlier Offshore Agreements dispute, since averted, had threatened to cut Norwegian oil and gas production by over 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, according to Offshore Norge.

The Well Service Agreement covers personnel providing specialist services to operators on the Norwegian continental shelf, including wireline, completion and intervention work supplied by service contractors such as SLB and Baker Hughes.