Norway union, oil drilling firms reach wage deal averting strike

OSLO, June 1 (Reuters) – Norway’s biggest oil workers’ union reached a wage deal with offshore rig owners on Thursday, averting the risk of a strike that could have hit exploration efforts later this summer, the Industri Energi union said.

A number of drilling firms operate off Norway – including Maersk Drilling, Transocean, Fred. Olsen Energy, Odfjell Drilling, Rowan Companies and Songa Offshore – renting out rigs to oil companies.

It was not immediately clear whether two smaller unions, Safe and DSO, had agreed to the wage deal.

Oil companies, including Statoil, Eni and Lundin Petroleum, which rent rigs to search for hydrocarbon reserves, plan to drill a record 15 wells in the Arctic Barents Sea this year. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Nerijus Adomaitis and Susan Fenton)

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