Odfjell Drilling to reduce offshore workers pay?

Offshore drilling contractor Odfjell Drilling is looking to reduce pay for its offshore workers. 

Following reports that the driller on Tuesday issued a proposal to its workers to reduce their pay, Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Odfjell Drilling as well as the workers’ union Unite seeking further details about the proposal. 

In a statement to Offshore Energy Today, a spokesperson for Unite said: “Unite met with Odfjell Drilling on Tuesday to receive the details of their proposals. This started a 45 day consultation process.” 

According to the union’s spokesperson, the proposals affects 180 offshore workers and the union will meet with Odfjell again on December 19 to give its initial feedback on the proposal.

Detailing the company’s plans, the spokesperson said Odfjell was looking to reduce base pay, sick pay, travel allowances and health care and dental care benefits, despite having improved profits.

“As you can imagine this has not went down well with the workforce and already they are saying “Enough is Enough”, the spokesperson told Offshore Energy Today. 

Odfjell Drilling refused to comment at this stage as this is still a consultation process.

As for Odfjell Drilling’s financial performance, the driller in November posted a profit of $18 million for the third quarter of 2017 compared to $21 million in the same period of 2016. On the revenue side, Odfjell recorded an increase from $167 million in the third quarter of 2016 to $178 million in the third quarter of this year.

When it comes to recent contracts, Odfjell Drilling was awarded in October a platform drilling contract with EnQuest for drilling and maintenance on the Magnus platform on the UK continental shelf.

Earlier, in August, Odfjell signed a contract with Aker BP for the 2010-built Deepsea Stavanger semi-submersible drilling rig for operations offshore Norway. Also, TAQA in June awarded Odfjell Drilling a two-year contract for platform drilling and maintenance services on five of its platforms in the UK sector of the North Sea.

Offshore Energy Today Staff