Nigerian Oil Unions Strike, Output so far Unaffected

Nigeria's oil unions began an indefinite strike on Monday, although crude production in Africa's top producer is not likely to be affected, oil industry sources said.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers are protesting over the government's failure to effectively maintain the country's refineries or reduce its subsidised prices at the pump as oil prices fall to record lows.

The unions frequently strike or threaten to.

"We've commenced the strike. It will affect oil production, since all operations are on strike," PENGASSAN chief Babatunde Oke told Reuters by telephone.

A strike in September caused little disruption to Africa's biggest oil producer, apart from a brief interruption to natural gas supplies to Ghana, which did not suffer shortages as a result.

An oil executive said this strike was not expected to affect output for the same reason that others have not: shutting down oil production is a drastic move that requires large numbers of workers at production sites who are unwilling to go that far.

"It's very difficult to shut them down, and once they do it would take them a week to get them back up. They never do it," he said. "That's the last thing anyone wants."

Reporting by Tim Cocks