A lockout is the employers’ counterpart to a strike. It means that employees are wholly or partially denied access to work in order to force a resolution of an industrial dispute.
“We are implementing a lockout because we are facing a serious situation. The conflict is costing our member companies and other businesses hundreds of millions of NOK each week when lost oil and gas production is taken into account. Not least, the strike is impacting our members very unevenly,” said Elisabeth Brattebø Fenne, Director of Employment Relations and lead negotiator at Offshore Norge.
The strike and lockout involve 12 key service providers: SLB, DOF Subsea Norway, DOF Subsea Norway Offshore, Oceaneering, Halliburton, Weatherford, Tios Crewing, DeepOcean, Subsea7, Cactus, Vetco Gray Scandinavia and Baker Hughes.
Certain companies operating offshore vessels have been exempted from the lockout in order to maintain the safety-critical subsea emergency preparedness on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Production impact
From next week, total production losses are estimated at around 12,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day compared with normal operations. This figure is expected to increase over the coming weeks in July.
After week 30, total production losses are expected to reach up to 120,000 boe per day.
The ongoing well services strike is affecting the industry’s ability to deliver new wells and maintain planned production in 2026. A significant share of drilling activities is now affected, with reduced activity, increased waiting time and planned shutdowns in several locations.
Should the conflict become prolonged, the consequences will continue to escalate. Restarting operations will become increasingly challenging, potentially weakening the companies’ ability to provide stable and secure energy to the market, including Europe.
Four mobile drilling rigs, five fixed installations and one well intervention vessel have experienced a complete halt in drilling and well operations, while efficiency and drilling progress have been reduced in several other locations. Affected activities include drilling operations, subsea work and light well intervention (LWI), resulting in both delays and temporary shutdowns.
A total of four IMR vessels (inspection, maintenance and repair activities) are affected, and capacity for routine as well as safety-critical maintenance has been reduced due to lower service delivery capacity.
No entitlement to pay
As with a strike, a lockout means that the employment relationship of the affected employees is temporarily suspended. All employees covered by the industrial action must leave their workplace and will not be entitled to receive pay from their employer for the duration of the strike.
For employees who, by agreement with their employer, are part of a shutdown arrangement or a safety staffing arrangement, the employment relationship will not be suspended until the agreed work has been completed.
