THE BUSINESS: Nigerian oil union strike threat grows: "Nigeria’s oil unions will repeat last week's two-day strike against Royal Dutch/Shell and extend it to the US firms Chevron/Texaco and ExxonMobil if talks with the company on Tuesday breakdown. Lumumba Okugba, deputy general secretary of white-collar oil union Pengassan said: The next one will be have to be bigger..." (ShellNews.net)

By Richard Orange

10 October 04

Nigeria’s oil unions will repeat last week's two-day strike against Royal Dutch/Shell and extend it to the US firms Chevron/Texaco and ExxonMobil if talks with the company on Tuesday breakdown.

Lumumba Okugba, deputy general secretary of white-collar oil union Pengassan said: The next one will be have to be bigger and we will have to take it holistically, not just Shell. We have the same problem with Chevron and Mobil. "We could go the whole hog."

Pengassan is protesting against Shell’s plans to restructure its African operations, a move that will involve job losses. It is also protesting against the hiring of non-union casual staff.

The oil price ended last week above $53 in New York, driven by fears for Nigerian supplies in the face of union unrest. The rise ebbed briefly early Friday as the two-day strike against Shell by Pengassan and blue-collar oil union Nupeng ended with minimal disruption to oil exports. But this was overtaken by the decision of the country's umbrella union, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to launch a general strike from Monday to Thursday in protest at government plans to increase subsidised petrol prices some 25%.

Okugba said that although Pengassan supports the general strike it will not disrupt oil production. Nupeng has threatened to get involved, but analysts said this would not hit production immediately.

Oily Owen, of World Markets Research Centre said: "Oil companies generally have time to prepare for the strikes and get alternative staff."