Workers of Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), an affiliate of American major oil group ExxonMobil, have issued a strike threat over pay and welfare, union officials said Wednesday. "The strike will begin overnight unless the management heeds our demands for better salaries and allowances and a comprehensive improvement in our conditions of service," a union official told AFP.
He said the strike, called by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), will "cripple exports if allowed to go ahead this night." PENGASSAN chairman for Mobil George Olumoroti-Olusola told the Vanguard newspaper the workers met on Tuesday and decided to launch the strike following a breakdown in negotiations with management. Mobil officials were not immediately available to comment on the development Wednesday.
Mobil is Nigeria's second largest oil operator, accounting for some 650,000 barrels per day of the country daily output of 2.1 million bpd. Unrest in the country's oil-producing south has cut exports by a quarter since January 2006 when militant gangs in the region stepped up attacks on oil firms, personnel and facilities.
On Tuesday, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said it had reduced output by 165,000 bpd following the sabotage of its supply pipelines to the Bonny export terminal in southern Nigeria. The development has helped push world oil prices to around 120 dollars a barrel.
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