Unite warns North Sea strike could disrupt UK fuel supplies

The Unite union has issued a warning that impending industrial action by oil workers in the North Sea could severely disrupt fuel supplies across the United Kingdom. The union stated that staff had been left with no alternative but to pursue strike action following a breakdown in pay negotiations with the Texas-based oil company Apache. Unite indicated that the workforce had emphatically supported the move after receiving what the union described as an unacceptable pay offer. This proposal was characterised as a real-terms pay cut for many employees, a stance the union contrasted with the company’s reported accumulation of significant profits.

The dispute centres on pay terms and back pay, with Unite alleging that Apache set strict deadlines for reaching an agreement and indicated that payments could be withheld. The union argued this behaviour left workers potentially thousands of pounds out of pocket. In response, Apache maintained that it had engaged constructively throughout the pay discussions. The company stated it had offered a four per cent pay increase to staff, noting that their earnings already place them among the highest earners in the UK. Apache also highlighted that the offshore rota averages 153 working days a year.

Strike action could commence later this month and is expected to involve more than 160 Apache offshore workers. The group includes electrical experts, production technicians and radio operators. Any industrial action would impact the Forties and Beryl oilfields. Unite warned that this could lead to one of the critical North Sea platforms, known as Charlie, being brought to a standstill. The union further suggested that such a halt could ultimately result in the entire Forties pipeline system going down. This infrastructure is said to handle almost a third of the UK’s oil and gas, and the disruption could ripple out to affect other large North Sea operators.

The potential strike comes at a time when consumers are already grappling with rising fuel and gas prices. These increases have been attributed to the US-Israel war on Iran, which has disrupted supplies of crude and refined oil products from the Gulf. On Friday, British motorists faced a further financial blow when it emerged that the average price of diesel had climbed to a record two pounds per litre. Simultaneously, it was announced that leaders of G7 nations would release up to 100 million barrels of their emergency diesel and crude oil stockpiles. This decision followed threats by Donald Trump to cut off supplies of US diesel.

Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, stated that the union would not tolerate unacceptable pay offers. Stevie Davies, a Unite industrial officer, added that any disruption to Apache’s platforms would have a direct hit on the Forties pipeline and potentially severely affect the UK’s fuel supplies. The Texas-based APA Corporation, the parent company behind Apache North Sea Production, reported 1.4 billion dollars in after-tax profits and 9.2 billion dollars in revenues for last year. Apache said it believed its final offer was fair and recognised the contribution of its offshore workforce. The company added that the proposed pay increase was in line with that awarded to non-unionised employees earlier in the year.

Apache stated it had contingency plans in place and did not expect any strike action to affect other producers and their ability to operate through the Forties pipeline system. These plans included keeping experienced personnel on key sites. The company noted that any reduction in pipeline pressure as a result of industrial action would be similar to what occurred during routine maintenance outages. Apache added that as a responsible operator, it was planning to maintain safe operations throughout any industrial action. In a related development, planned strikes by Neo Next offshore workers, also organised by Unite, were called off this summer after they secured a deal that lifted the pay package by more than 4,000 pounds. Ineos, which operates the Forties pipeline system, was contacted for comment.