Apache offshore workers back strike action in North Sea pay dispute

• Unite says workers across seven Apache assets overwhelmingly backed industrial action.
• The union warns that a stoppage at the Charlie platform could threaten flows through the Forties Pipeline System.
• Apache says it has contingency plans and does not expect other producers to be affected.
• The reports give no strike date or ballot tally.

More than 160 offshore workers at Apache have voted for industrial action in a pay dispute, according to Unite. The union says a strike could begin later this month, but the reports of the result give neither a vote count nor a turnout figure. ¹

Unite’s ballot covered workers on seven Apache assets linked to the Forties and Beryl oilfields, including technicians and radio operators. It opened on 3 September and was due to close on 1 October. The union’s announcement before the vote said action could begin by mid-October; later reports say “later this month” without giving a date. ²

The union’s warning rests on a possible chain of events: action could bring Apache’s Charlie platform to a standstill, disrupting flows into the wider Forties system. Unite says that could ultimately shut the pipeline. That is a forecast, not a confirmed operational outcome. ¹

The Forties system is shared infrastructure, not an Apache-only pipeline. Ineos, which owns and operates it, says oil and gas liquids from more than 80 offshore fields and St Fergus pass through the system. Its stated nominal capacity is more than 600,000 barrels a day. Those figures describe the system’s reach and capacity, not how much supply a strike would put at risk. ³

Apache told the Guardian it had offered a 4% pay rise and considered its final offer fair. Unite says the offer would mean a real-terms cut for many workers; the union has also raised a dispute over back pay. Apache says it plans to keep experienced personnel at key sites and does not expect action to affect other producers’ use of Forties. Ineos’s public description of the pipeline does not address this dispute or set out a strike-specific plan. ⁴

Footnotes

1. Reuters, “Apache workers back strike that could disrupt North Sea Forties oil pipeline, union says”; The Guardian, “Strikes by North Sea oil workers could ‘severely disrupt’ UK fuel supplies”. ↩ ↩²

2. Unite, “Workers in strike ballot with North Sea operator Apache”. ↩

3. Ineos, “About INEOS FPS”. ↩

4. The Guardian, “Strikes by North Sea oil workers could ‘severely disrupt’ UK fuel supplies”. ↩