/ 25 May 2007

Nigerian oil strike spreads to export terminals

Nigerian oil unions pulled many staff from crude export terminals on the second day of a strike on Friday, but shipments from the world’s eighth largest exporter were uninterrupted, authorities said.

The strike by union members in the national oil company and the Department of Petroleum Resources, the industry regulator, began on Thursday to protest against the privatisation of the country’s largest oil refinery.

The stoppage comes just days before the inauguration of president-elect Umaru Yar’Adua on Tuesday, and is a prelude to a two-day strike planned by all Nigerian trade unions on Monday and Tuesday to protest against rigging in last month’s polls.

”We are withdrawing from export terminals, but everything is still on, on a skeletal basis. We are not shutting down exports yet,” said Peter Esele, leader of the senior staff union Pegassan.

Oil-industry sources confirmed that many inspectors had already been withdrawn from oil tanker terminals, which ship about 2,1-million barrels a day.

The strike has already hit domestic fuel supplies, with lengthy fuel queues forming in southern and central Nigeria. Union leaders have said they would target oil production and exports if their demands were not addressed within days.

Talks between the unions and the government failed to get off the ground on Thursday after Energy Minister Edmund Daukoru insisted there would be no negotiations until the strike was called off, unionists said. — Reuters