Nigerian oil workers at ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) have decided to end a strike over layoffs of staff after earlier agreeing to halt crude oil production, a union official said Dec. 21.
“Production will resume any moment,” Lumumba Okugbara, acting general secretary of oil labor union PENGASSAN, told Reuters. “We just rose from a meeting with the management and the issues that had led to the labor impasse have been resolved after the minister of petroleum intervened.”
He did not say by how much crude production had been affected since the union shut down ExxonMobil’s Nigeria headquarters in Lagos to protest against the layoffs of more than 100 employees last week.
“It was not a total shut down,” he said, adding that workers at ExxonMobil facilities had downed tools when the company handed out sacking letters Dec. 19.
“I cannot tell you for now whether the company has agreed to stop sacking of workers or not but the doors for further negotiations are open,” Okugbara said.
ExxonMobil could not immediately be reached for comment.
Oil traders said the February oil loading program at ExxonMobil’s Qua Iboe terminal had been delayed for an unknown reason.
Nigerian labor unions have in recent months criticized oil companies for laying off workers. The industry has been hit by low crude prices and a wave of militant attacks in Nigeria’s oil hub, the Niger Delta, hampering production capability.
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