Norway Wage Negotiators Work Overtime to Avert Oil Strike

 Norwegian oil workers and their employers extended wage negotiations past a midnight deadline on Saturday in a bid to avoid a strike that would cut the country's oil and gas production, said the state mediator who is hosting the talks.

Three unions will put 755 workers on strike at several platforms operated by Statoil (STO), ExxonMobil and Engie if their demands are not met.

The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG), which negotiates on behalf of the energy firms, has said the initial impact of a strike would cut output by 229,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day, or about six percent of production.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Stine Jacobsen)