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Nigeria:Oil-worker’s strike may disrupt supplies |
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2005-3-24
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Looming threat of Nigerian oil-workers’ strike next month has pushed crude oil to trade traded close to a record high due to lower exports from the country.
Nigeria is Africa''s largest producer and its workers have threatened a three-day walkout beginning April 11 that will impact oil output, an official from the union representing senior staff said today.
Prices earlier fell as much as 0.6 percent after the Saudi oil minister said OPEC is discussing a date for a second output quota boost this year. New York oil reached a record $57.60 a barrel last week.
Crude for April delivery rose 3 cents to $56.75 a barrel at 2 p.m. London time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after topping $57 for a second time in more than two decades of futures trading. The contract, which expires today, ended at $56.72 on March 18, a record-high close. Brent crude for May fell 3 cents to $55.56 on London''s International Petroleum Exchange, after peaking at $56.15 on March 17. It has still gained 37 percent this year.
Last weeks decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, producer of about 40 percent of the world''s oil, to raise output targets to a record 27.5 million barrels a day failed dampen the global oil demand which is fast outpacing supply.
On the other hand, a 53 percent surge in New York crude prices in the past year sent average retail gasoline prices in the U.S. to a record $2.10 a gallon in the past two weeks, topping the previous record of about $2.07 on May 21, 2004.
This would have negative effect on the economy with consumers spending less, earmarking a bigger part of their income for transport.
Meanwhile, The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria will join the strike, say news sources quoting Mojibayo Fadakinte, the general secretary of the white-collar Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
“Oil production has to be affected,” Fadakinte said adding that “We are not exempting any sectors this time around.”
The workers are protesting dismissals, working conditions and oil companies'' practices of paid employment under contract service and hiring far too many expatriate workers instead of Nigerians, he said. Last month Nigeria pumped about 2.38 million barrels a day, making it OPEC''s sixth-largest producer, media sources reported.
OPEC raised its quota by 500,000 barrels a day on March 16, authorizing the group''s president to implement a further boost of the same size if needed.
Led by China and the U.S., oil demand is expected to rise 2.2 percent this year, or 1.8 million barrels a day, to a record 84.3 million a day, according to the International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized nations on energy. Last year, consumption climbed 3.4 percent, the biggest jump since 1976. |
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