* Norway oil workers agree wage deal
* Employers and unions worked overtime to agree
* Avoids strike that would have cut output (Adds quote, background)
OSLO, July 2 (Reuters) - Norwegian offshore oil workers andemployers signed a new wage deal on Saturday, avoiding a strikethat would have cut the output from western Europe's top oil andgas producer by about six percent, employers and unions said.
Some 755 workers at fields operated by Statoil,ExxonMobil and Engie had threatened to strikeif the talks had failed. A conflict would initially have cappedNorway's daily oil and natural gas output by 229,000 barrels ofoil equivalents.
"We've beaten back all attempts at weakening our terms,"Safe union leader Hilde-Marit Rysst told Reuters. "On pay, wegot a deal we can live with for this year," she added.
Unions were seeking pay increases in line with otherindustries while producers wanted workers to refrain fromseeking such increases and to accept more flexible workpractices, citing still weak oil prices.
In 2012 a 16-day strike among some of Norway's oil workerscut the country's output of crude by about 13 percent and itsnatural gas production by about 4 percent. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Stine Jacobsen)