OSLO, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil firms and labour union officials will resume formal wage negotiations on Friday in a bid to end a strike that could otherwise cut the country's oil and gas output by close to 25% next week, the Lederne trade union said on Thursday.
The meeting will take place at the office of Norway's state-appointed wage mediator, the union said.
"I really hope we can have the deal tomorrow. We were very close to reaching it today," Lederne chief Audun Ingvartsen told Reuters late on Thursday.
Six offshore fields shut on Monday as the union ramped up its strike, reducing output by 330,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), and the outage could grow to 966,000 boed by Oct. 14, oil firms said.
The strike will continue until a wage agreement is signed. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Victoria Klesty)
