July 16 (UPI) -- A labor group representing offshore employers in Norway said the nation's reputation as an oil and gas producer was at stake because of strikes.
As promised, an offshore trade union idled 19 offshore installations through labor action during the weekend. Hundreds of workers on nine installations off the coast of Norway opted for labor action on nine rigs last week to press for higher wages.
Jakob Korsgaard, the managing director of the Norwegian Shipowners' Association and the managing director of Maersk Drilling Norway, said the strikes were a blow to Norway's image. In a statement, he said it was "incomprehensible" that Safe would "put both jobs, the Norwegian continental shelf's attractiveness and competitiveness and Norway's reputation as a safe and stable supplier of oil and gas resources in play" by striking.
Norwegian oil and natural gas production is important for the European market. Apart from Russia, it's one of the largest regional suppliers, drawing on renewable energy for power while sending its oil and gas reserves to Europe.
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For Norway, oil and gas operations represented about 14 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and 40 percent of its export value last year.
The labor dispute came as the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said it was important for drillers to increase activity offshore to arrest emerging declines. The NPD said 86 new development wells were drilled in Norwegian waters, about the same level as this time last year.
Production, meanwhile, is 3 percent less than expected and 4 percent below last year's forecast. For the second month in a row, the NPD said the main reason for a decline in production was because of technical issues offshore.
"Drilling new wells is the single most important measure to increase recovery," said Ingrid Sølvberg, director of development and operations at the NPD.
