Strikes threatening to cut most of Britain’s gas imports from Norway have been called off. The Norwegian Labor Ministry confirmed it had moved to end the industrial action scheduled later this week.
“Labourers are going back to work as soon as possible. We are cancelling the planned increase,” the leader of the Southern Union, Auden Ingwartsson, told Reuters.
The Trade Department had insisted: “There is no problem with gas supply to the UK.” The UK imports about 50% of its gas, and Norway is its largest supplier with 77% of imports, ONS data shows.
Oil and gas from Norway, Europe’s second-largest energy supplier after Russia, is in high demand as many countries reduce their reliance on Russian supplies in response to the war in Ukraine.
The industrial crackdown began on Monday following a wage dispute between employers’ organizations, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, and Union Ladern, which represents oil and gas workers.
The first phase forced the Norwegian energy company Equinor to close three of its oil and gas fields. Further attacks were expected Tuesday evening, affecting three more Equinor facilities.
The union had threatened to take further strike action from Saturday if the dispute was not resolved.
But Labor Minister Marte Mojos Persson told Reuters the government had exercised its right to intervene.
“Norway plays an important role in the supply of gas to Europe, and the planned escalation [strike] will have dire consequences for Britain, Germany and other countries,” he said.
“The effect of quantity would have been dramatic in light of the current European situation.”
Responding to the call off the strike, the oil lobby, NOG, said: “We are pleased to see that the government understood the gravity of the situation and to maintain Norway’s reputation as a reliable and stable natural gas supplier. Worked; Europe.”
Norwegian gas arrives at two terminals in the UK – Isington in Yorkshire and St Fergus in Scotland.
Saturday’s planned strike would have affected UK supplies as it would have temporarily closed the Sleipner field – a key delivery point for gas exports to the UK.
The Department for Business said: “We have one of the most reliable and diverse energy systems in the world, with access to our own North Sea gas reserves and the second-largest LNG port infrastructure in Europe.”
Gassco transports gas to other European countries, including Germany and Belgium. It’s thought strike action would have prevented up to 170 million cubic litres of gas from being delivered, around 50% of the total daily delivery amount from the company.