Markets shrug off Norwegian oil strike

Norwegian officials said a strike by offshore oil workers is harming the country's energy reputation though a market analyst said overall impact is minimal. Norwegian energy company Statoil estimates a labor strike by offshore workers cut oil production as much as 250,000 barrels per day. Several fields on the Norwegian continental shelf were shut down because of the strike. Jan Hodneland, an employee policy official at the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, said the work stoppage has halted 15 percent of oil production and 7 percent of natural gas output. "Apart from its major financial consequences, downing tools in this way is damaging Norway's reputation as a stable supplier of oil and gas," he said in a statement. Norway hosted a forum this week on arctic exploration amid the strike, which began Sunday. Michael Hewson, a market analyst for CMC Markets UK in London, told Bloomberg News the overall market impact on the Norwegian strike was minimal. "The expectation is that there is significant oversupply in the market so the Norwegian strike is neither here nor there," he said.