Britain's Unite union said on Monday that more than 160 offshore workers employed by energy company Apache would take part in a 24-hour strike over pay this week, warning that the planned action could severely disrupt UK fuel supplies.
"There are seven Apache assets associated with the Forties and Beryl oilfields set to be impacted by the industrial disruption," said Unite, adding that workers had rejected a pay offer that ranged from a freeze to below-inflation increases.
Unite said the planned strike could bring the critical Charlie platform to a standstill, potentially resulting in a loss of pressure that could lead to the entire Forties pipeline system (FPS) being halted.
The FPS is significant because it carries some of the oil that makes up the pricing benchmark for physical North Sea oil trade. Unite said more than 80 offshore oil and gas fields, as well as the St Fergus gas plant, flow into the FPS, which handles around 29 per cent of Britain's oil and 30 per cent of its gas.
Apache, which previously told Reuters that any strike action would not prevent other companies from using the Forties pipeline system, did not respond to a request for comment.
Unite said the industrial action would start at 06:00 local (05:00 GMT) on October 21 and end at 05:59 on October 22.
It said talks with conciliation service ACAS were scheduled ahead of the start of the planned strike, but added that Apache had shown "no willingness" to resolve the dispute.
The union also said a further 24-hour strike is scheduled from November 4 to November 5 if the dispute remains unresolved.
(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, William Maclean and Alexander Smith)