OSLO (AFP) - An ongoing conflict in Norway's oil sector will be jacked up, according to the trade union organizing the work stoppage.
The strike has seen production losses of 55,000 barrels a day for Norway, the world's third largest oil exporter.
Oil sector workers and their employers have been at loggerheads since July. Production has already been halted on a rig in the Glitne field which usually pumps out around 30,000 barrels a day.
On Monday evening, some 80 crew members on board the Petrojarl Varg production rig, which normally extracts about 25,000 barrels per day (bpd), will join the strike action and walk off the job, the union Oljearbeidernes Fellessammenslutning (OFS) said.
All production will be stopped on the rig, which is operated by the Norwegian group Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS).
The total volume of losses represents two percent of Norway's normal production level of around three million barrels per day.
The four-month old conflict has contributed to the rise in oil prices. In London, Brent North Sea crude oil shot to 50 dollars a barrel for the first time on Monday, reaching a new record summit.
"The situation is blocked. We see no solution in sight," the chairman of the OFS union, Terje Nustad, told AFP, adding that the conflict could last for "another one or two months".
The union has been calling for better working conditions, demands the Norwegian Shipowners Association, which represents companies involved in oil exploration, says it cannot meet.
In addition to production losses, the conflict is also leading to losses of some 100,000 bpd because of drilling and operative delays, analysts said.
In total, almost 600 people have stopped or will stop work as a result of the OFS's action and an ensuing lock-out which began on September 3.