{"id":793096,"date":"2026-10-05T22:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T22:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793096\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T22:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T22:50:11","slug":"strike-action-by-north-sea-apache-workers-could-severely-disrupt-uk-fuel-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793096\/","title":{"rendered":"Strike action by North Sea Apache workers could ‘severely disrupt’ UK fuel supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A union has warned imminent strike action by more than 160 North Sea oil workers could see UK fuel supplies \u201cseverely disrupted\u201d.<\/p>\n

Apache staff have backed industrial action over a pay dispute after rejecting an offer which Unite said amounts to a real terms pay cut for many workers.<\/p>\n

The union has warned that the strikes \u2013 impacting seven Apache assets associated with the Forties and Beryl oil fields \u2013 could result in the entire Forties Pipeline System going down.<\/p>\n

Operated by Ineos, the system handles 29% of the UK\u2019s oil and 30% of its gas.<\/p>\n

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: \u201cWe will not tolerate unacceptable pay offers and threats to withhold back pay from Apache.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe operator is\u00a0raking in\u00a0eye-watering profits. It\u2019s treating its highly-skilled workers with contempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cApache has been caught red handed in embarking on shameful corporate greed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strike action could begin this month, involving electrical, instrument, mechanical and production technicians, as well as telecoms technicians and radio operators.<\/p>\n

Apache North Sea Production Limited is part of the APA Corporation, which recorded after-tax profits of \u00a31.2 billion from revenue of almost \u00a37 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n

Unite industrial officer Stevie Davies added: \u201cAny disruption to Apache\u2019s platforms would have a direct hit on the Forties Pipeline and potentially severely affecting the UK\u2019s fuel supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apache said that industrial action may not take place and that it did not expect disruption to fuel supplies if strikes went ahead.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: \u201cApache has engaged constructively throughout the pay discussions. We believe our final offer to the union is fair and recognises the contribution of our offshore workforce, alongside the wider benefits in our total rewards package.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed pay increase is also in line with that awarded to our non-unionised employees earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur offer provides a 4% pay increase for employees in the bargaining unit, whose earnings already place them among the highest earners in the UK and whose offshore rota averages 153 working days a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on our current contingency plans, we do not anticipate that industrial action would affect other producers\u2019 ability to continue operating through the Forties pipeline system.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plans include maintaining experienced personnel on Forties Charlie to operate the plant and support continued third-party production, even if production from all five Apache-operated Forties platforms were suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny resulting reduction in pipeline pressure if Apache production was suspended would be comparable to that experienced during a routine maintenance outage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect the ballot result, but our preference remains to resolve this matter through constructive dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n

Get all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n

Follow STV News <\/a>Follow STV News on WhatsApp<\/p>\n

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A union has warned imminent strike action by more than 160 North Sea oil workers could see UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-793096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}