Author: Stephen Alexander - The oil output from Europe’s second largest crude and natural gas producer is drying up as oil workers from Norway go on strike. The strike is the result of mediation failure on pension and wages.

The division over pensions with labor unions and the Norwegian Oil Industry Association was not resolved as mediation talks went past midnight. A strike was called by workers afterwards.

The strike will soon close oil and gas output as production from Statoil ASA’s Oseberg and Heidrun fields and BP Plc’s Skarv development is halted, according to the industry association. Incidentally, seven hundred workers are being removed from production lines at Europe’s biggest methanol plant.

This oil workers’ strike is the first major one for the oil industry since 2004.