The union announced that workers at Apache, a Texas oil company, had "emphatically" backed strike action after rejecting what they called an unacceptable pay offer. Unite said the offer amounted to a real-terms pay cut for many employees at a time when the company was "raking in eye-watering profits".
Strike action could begin later this month and involve more than 160 Apache offshore workers, including electrical experts, production technicians and radio operators. The action would affect the Forties and Beryl oilfields and could bring the critical Charlie platform to a standstill, according to Unite.
That could lead to the entire Forties pipeline system "going down", the union said, with disruption potentially rippling out to other large North Sea operators. Unite blamed Apache's failure to reach a pay deal, saying the company's behaviour could have "far-reaching consequences for workers, operators and consumers".
Apache said it had "engaged constructively throughout the pay discussions" and had offered a 4% pay increase for staff, "whose earnings already place them among the highest earners in the UK and whose offshore rota averages 153 working days a year". The company also said it had contingency plans in place and did not expect any strike action to affect operations.
The dispute comes as British motorists face record diesel prices of £2 a litre, partly driven by the US-Israel war on Iran disrupting Gulf supplies. G7 leaders have announced plans to release up to 100 million barrels of emergency diesel and crude oil stockpiles after Donald Trump threatened to cut off US diesel supplies.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "We will not tolerate unacceptable pay offers." Stevie Davies, a Unite industrial officer, said any disruption to Apache's platforms "would have a direct hit on the Forties pipeline and potentially severely affect the UK's fuel supplies".
Apache's parent company, APA Corporation, reported $1.4 billion in after-tax profits and $9.2 billion in revenues last year.