Norway Oil & Gas Workers May Strike
Workers at three onshore plants serving Norway's oil and gas industry will strike from Oct. 7 unless they get a new wage deal, the SAFE labour union said on Monday, potentially threatening Britain's natural gas supplies. Some 338 workers at Statoil's Melkoeya LNG plant, Shell's Nyhamna natural gas processing plant and ExxonMobil's Slagen refinery terminal would go on strike if talks on a new pay deal break down, the union said.
ExxonMobil to Upgrade Slagen Refinery Project
ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Norge AS announced today plans to install a new processing unit at the Slagen refinery to enable production of high quality vacuum gas oil, a higher-yield feedstock used to create finished products such as diesel. The new residual flash tower is an upgrading unit that will improve the facility’s overall crude distillation process by replacing production of heavy fuel oil with lighter, higher-value gas oil.
Exxon Boosts European Refining Investments
ExxonMobil is to pump more money into European refining, with the upgrade of a unit at its Slagen refinery in Norway, bucking an industry trend which has seen some plants in the region closing, and others on death watch. Exxon said on Thursday it planned to install a new processing unit to enable the production of high quality vacuum gas oil. A new residual flash tower will produce the gasoil, replacing the production of lower value heavy fuel oil, the company said in a statement.