* Nyhamna plant processes quarter of Norway gas output
* Plant to shut Saturday unless strike called off
* Both union and employers say strike set to go ahead
* Gas prices rise on prospect of shutdown
(Adds employers' organisation)
By Nora Buli and Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A key export terminal for Norway's
natural gas will shut if Saturday's planned strike goes ahead,
cutting supply to Europe, system operator Gassco said on Friday,
sending prices higher.
The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG) and Gassco
warned on Thursday that the Nyhamna processing facility, which
handles about a quarter of Norwegian gas exports, will be closed
unless a strike among security guards is called off.
Norway, Europe's second largest gas producer after Russia,
says it supplied 22% of European Union demand last year.
Some 2,300 security guards organised by the Norwegian Union
of General Workers (NAF) are on a nationwide strike over pay,
and an additional 85 are scheduled to strike from Saturday.
NAF and the NHO group representing security firms said talks
were deadlocked and the strike was expected to go ahead.
"We've accepted a gradual shutdown of the facility," the
NHO's Federation of Service Industries and Retail Trade said in
an emailed statement.
"There is no movement on either side," NAF spokesman Terje
Mikkelsen told Reuters.
Exports from Nyhamna, which has a capacity of 84 million
standard cubic metres (mcm) of gas per day, will be cut by 50
mcm on Saturday, Gassco said.
The shutdown is planned to start in the early hours of
Saturday, Gassco's systems operations chief Alfred Hansen said.
The overall impact on the market was less than the plant's
84 mcm capacity, Gassco said, partly because of possibilities
for compensating from other sources.
Nevertheless, the price of British wholesale gas for
delivery next week increased by 7.7% and other contracts also
rose.
The Nyhamna plant processes natural gas from the offshore
Ormen Lange and Aasta Hansteen fields, which are also expected
to close when the plant shuts down.
The Norwegian government, which can invoke emergency powers
to end workplace conflicts, reiterated on Friday it was closely
monitoring the situation.
Governments have often been reluctant to intervene, only
doing so when lives or national interest are considered at risk.
(Editing by Terje Solsvik, David Evans and Alexander Smith)
