Crude jumps to one month high on Norwegian lock-out Oil prices jumped to an one-month high of more than $102 a barrel on Thursday as Norway's oil industry prepared to halt production after a breakdown of talks to resolve a labour dispute. ICE August Brent on Thursday rose more than $2 to $102.25 after the unpexected announcement of a lockout by Oljeindustriens Landsforening, Norway's oil industry association. Statoil, the largest oil company in the country, said it was preparing to shut down production on the Norwegian continental shelf after OLF announced a lock out of over 6,500 offshore oil workers by next week. Norway is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, selling an average of 2m barrels a day. The country's production of high quality, low sulphur crude oil is particularly important for the Brent market as it is part of the Brent benchmark. The lockout comes after talks between OLF and the unions over pension rights broke down. Workers have been on strike since late June and Statoil has already been forced to shut five oil and gasfields on the Norwegian continental shelf. Jan Hodneland, chief negotiator for the OLF, said in a statement that talks were deadlocked and that the unions" demands were unreasonable. "Unfortunately, we see no other course than to notify a lockout," he said. The lockout will come into effect at the end of Monday, with production being stopped from the early hours of Tuesday. However, analysts believe that the move could be shortlived as it will force Norway's government to intervene rapidly in the conflict to keep the country's oil flowing. Oslo's involvement will nonetheless also poison the relationship between trade unions and the companies for months to come, opening the door for further conflicts. Olivier Jakob, of Zug-based oil consultancy Petromatrix, said that in 2004 the government intervened only a day after the industry declared a lockout. "The most likely outcome is now a Norway government intervention," he said in a note to clients. The lockout in Norway came as oil prices were already on the rise after Saudi Arabia increased its official selling prices, an indication that the oil market is tighter than many observers have anticipated over the past month. In addition, continued tension around Iran is also providing support for oil prices, traders said.