BP North Sea strike resolution leaves wider outage threat hanging

The UK's Unite trade union reiterated a threat of North Sea strike disruption March 21 as it announced a resolution of a dispute involving a relatively small number of contract workers at BP facilities.

In a statement, the union said the scheduled strike by some 50 members employed by service company Sparrows would now not go ahead after a "great deal" was achieved securing additional paid leave and other improvements.

However, the union reiterated a threat of a "tsunami" of strikes that it said could shut down dozens of North Sea oil and gas platforms, following ballots of members earlier in the week.

Unite said the strike action was expected to affect UK offshore operators including BP, CNRI, EnQuest, Harbour Energy, Ithaca Energy, Shell and TotalEnergies.

No strike dates have yet been announced and it remained unclear what the actual impact might be.

Another 150 Sparrows employees are still expected to strike at non-BP facilities in another dispute, Unite added.

"We urge other North Sea contractors and operators, including Sparrows Offshore Service where we remain in dispute, to acknowledge our members' resolve, do the right thing and come back with a deal our members can accept in order to avoid a possible tsunami of industrial action," Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said.

A number of operators have declined to comment, while a Shell spokesperson said earlier the company called for "constructive dialogue between Unite and contracting companies to reach a mutually agreed outcome."

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed North Sea benchmark Dated Brent at $71.71/b on March 20, down 58 cents on the day, amid elevated levels of economic uncertainty in Europe.