A series of labor strikes on North Sea oil rigs threatens to disrupt fuel supplies across the United Kingdom, as union workers clash with employers over pay.

According to The Guardian, more than 160 offshore rig workers represented by the Unite union plan to take part in a 24-hour strike on October 21, with a second 24-hour stoppage set for November 4. The strike is expected to include employees at seven oil platforms owned by energy company Apache, which uses the Forties Pipeline System — a transport network comprised of 80 oil fields that accounts for roughly 30% of U.K. oil production — to move oil to shore. 

Among those facilities is Apache's Charlie platform, a critical North Sea production hub that collects oil from other platforms linked by the FPS and pumps it into the system for transport to shore. Unite warns that further stoppages at the Charlie platform could have widespread impacts across the entire Forties Pipeline System network.

In a statement ahead of its planned October 21 strike, Unite accused employers of showing "no willingness" to resolve an ongoing dispute over worker pay. The union claims that a recent pay offer from Apache amounts to a pay cut for workers, with some facing a pay freeze and others being offered increases below the rate of inflation.

Apache has stated that its offer includes a 4% pay bump, which the company says would place workers among the highest earners in the U.K. The union and Apache are scheduled to take part in conciliation talks prior to the October 21 strike.