North Sea oil workers ready for fresh strike as low prices bite
North Sea oil workers are preparing to walk out for the second time in just over a week, as the embattled sector continues to struggle amid stubbornly low oil prices.
Workers will go on strike for 48 hours on 4 August, as part of an ongoing dispute over changes to wages and shift patterns which has pitted trade unions Unite and RMT against oil services firm Wood Group.
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Output on the affected platforms, which are all owned by Royal Dutch Shell, have not yet been affected.
Oil workers downed their tools for the first time in a generation last week, after mediation efforts between the unions and Wood Group failed.
Crude prices tumbling from more than $110 per barrel in the middle of 2014 has forced oil firms to cut costs, scale back or abandon projects and axe jobs.
A disappointing set of earnings from oil majors last week highlighted how hard it is for the industry to bounce back from this, despite oil prices recovering from a multi-year low in January to around $45 recently.
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London-listed Royal Dutch Shell's second quarter profits plunged 70 per cent, as chief executive Ben van Beurden said low oil prices continued to be a "significant challenge" across the business which is trying to absorb its recent acquisition BG Group.
Its peer BP's boss Bob Dudley also blamed the commodity rout as the company suffered a 44 per cent drop in profits.