(Montel) Norway’s government has stepped in to stop the strike that threatens to cut off 56% of the country’s gas supply to the rest of Europe from Saturday, it said Tuesday afternoon.
“It has been impossible for the parties to reach an agreement. I have therefore suggested a forced settlement,” Labor Minister Marte Persen said in a statement, in which she added that oil and gas workers plan to return to work as soon as possible.
“The planned escalation is critical in the current situation, both in terms of the energy crisis and the geopolitical situation we are in with a war in Europe,” Persen said. It is “irresponsible” to allow such a large part of the country’s gas production to be stopped at a time when both the EU and the UK were dependent on energy cooperation with Norway, she added.
The government’s intervention in the strike over offshore workers’ wages ends a dispute that has already halted oil and gas production at three fields since Lederne union members began the strike.
Gas prices were already soaring on concerns that Russian gas supplies to Europe could be cut off in the face of the war in Ukraine, while Norway had played a key role in helping countries diversify from their over-reliance on Russian energy. .