Songa Offshore to Cut 430 Jobs Due to Ongoing Norway Oil, Gas Strikes

Songa Offshore will temporarily lay off 430 people as a result of the ongoing conflict between the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association and union members at Industri Energi.

Songa Offshore will temporarily lay off 430 people as a result of the ongoing conflict between the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association and union members at Industri Energi.

More than 300 oil service employees, all Industri Energi union members, went on strike Wednesday Sept. 21 after wage talks broke down with the Norwegian Oil Industry Association. During the strike, Norwegian oil service employees from Schlumberger Norway, Baker Hughes Norway, Halliburton Norway, Oceaneering and Oceaneering Asset Integrity staged a walk-out.

Over 350 oil service workers have so far been laid off in Norway as a result of the strike action, with approximately 300 workers axed by Baker Hughes, 29 let go by Halliburton AS and 24 cut by Schlumberger Norge AS.

Songa Offshore is not represented by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association and, as such, has not directly been part of the conflict. The company is, however, impacted as a number of its rigs have been taken out of operations as a result of Statoil's operations being affected by the strike.

The Songa Endurance (mid-water semisub), Songa Equinox (mid-water semisub) and Songa Enabler (mid-water semisub) are currently out of operations, with the Songa Encourage (mid-water semisub) expected to be impacted in the first half of October. The Songa Delta (mid-water semisub) is currently not expected to be impacted by the conflict.

As a consequence of the rigs going out of operations, Songa Offshore is reducing offshore manning to the safety crew level and 65 offshore employees have so far received notice of temporary dismissal, with another 365 planned. This excludes any potential effects from Songa Encourage operations.