A Norwegian union has said that, if a new contract has not been signed by midnight Tuesday, it would order a strike by more than 500 members, which would shut down most of the state-controlled oil company Statoil ASA's production. A strike at offshore oil fields could cut nearly one-third of the nation's production of roughly 3 million barrels per day. A strike in Norway, the world's third-largest oil exporter, would have serious consequences for worldwide oil prices. The union says that the major issue in contention is pensions.
See "Norwegian Union Threatens Strike at Fields", Associated Press, The New York Times, June 19, 2005