Oil and gas industry pay talks in Norway continue this week. This week’s negotiations are being held on the oil service sector pay settlement, which covers some 6,000 employees at various companies in this sector.

“The parties have submitted their demands today and, given the position facing the industry, we believe the talks will be demanding,” says Jan Hodneland, chief negotiator at the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association said on Monday.

Norwegian Oil and Gas represents the employers in the negotiations, with the Norwegian Union of Industry and Energy Workers (Industri Energi) and the Norwegian Union of Energy Workers (Safe) negotiating for the employees.

The employers’ representative has cited the latest figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics which show that investment on the NCS is falling, and will continue to decline because of persistently low oil prices, high costs and the need for cost reductions. From a peak of NOK 214 billion in 2014, capital spending in the Norwegian petroleum industry is expected to fall by almost 30 per cent to NOK 153 billion in 2007, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Industry Association said.

“Unfortunately, this has led to many people losing their jobs and presents big challenges for suppliers and local communities,” observes Hodneland. “In these circumstances, employers and employees have a shared responsibility to safeguard jobs and valuable expertise in an industry which Norway will need for a long time to come.”

While acknowledging that unemployment is serious for those affected, the association claims that, at the same time, a number of examples show that declining costs make more fields economic to develop – even with a lower oil price.

“A prudent pay settlement will accordingly contribute to strengthening the competitive terms for Norway’s supplier companies,” says Hodneland. “That’ll help to ensure we can preserve the largest possible number of jobs.”

These collective agreements are identical for Industri Energi and Safe. They cover the following companies: KCA Deutag Drilling Norge AS, Altus Intervention AS, Aker Solutions AS Subsea Ågotnes, Baker Hughes Norge, Halliburton AS, Oceaneering AS, Schlumberger Norge AS, Subsea 7 Norway, Weatherford Norge AS, Vetco Gray Scandinavia, Benor, Cameron, Enhanced Drilling, Expro Group Norway AS, Falck Nutec AS, Franks International, Harris Norge, Intertek West Lab, IOS Tubular Management, INC Support AS, Landmark Graphics, NUI AS, Nosefo Tau AS, Petrotech AS, PSW Technology, Ramco Norway AS, ResQ, Subsea 7 I-Tech AS, Technip Norge AS, TWMA Norge, Viking SeaTech Norge AS, Weatherford Laboratories and Welltec.

To remind, the wage talks were previously held with land workers, onshore bases workers and offshore workers. Collective pay talks held with the workers in onshore bases, and offshore workers collapsed. The deal was reached with land-based workers.