At least someone is prepared to do something about security issues!
Maybe this will rub off on the pilots and engineers in Nigeria?
Nigerian oil unions launch strike over security fears
By KATHARINE HOURELD
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Oil unions launched a three-day strike today over worsening security in an oil-rich region on Nigeria as Chevron confirmed the death of one subcontractor and injuries to two others there.
The country's two biggest petroleum industry unions had called the action to protest the death of another worker, killed three weeks ago in a shoot-out between government forces and militants amid rising violence in the Niger Delta. It began Wednesday, with company and union officials saying staff were staying home.
Chevron Corp. spokesman Femi Odumabo had no immediate comment on whether the strike would affect oil production. But a London-based spokeswoman for Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Nigeria's biggest producer, said it was unlikely production would be greatly affected.
"Arrangements have been made to reduce the impact of the strike on production, loading and the provision of essential services," said Eurwen Thomas.
The oil unions have held strikes before without a big impact on production or exports.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer of crude and the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the United States. Kidnappings and militant attacks in the southern Niger Delta region, where most crude is pumped, have cut production by nearly 900,000 barrels per day this year so far, helping send crude prices to historical highs.
On Tuesday, gunmen attacked a boat carrying Chevron-affiliated workers in the waterways of the oil-rich southern Niger Delta, and one worker died, labor union officials said.
Chevron, which is based in San Ramon, Calif., confirmed the death Wednesday and said two others were injured. Odumabo said one contract staffer died on a supply boat.
Wednesday's strike was called after Royal Dutch Shell employee Nelson Ujeya was killed in a shoot-out between militants and government forces three weeks ago. He had been held hostage in a community dispute for nearly a month when local leaders and militants intervened to free him. Twelve people died when the military opened fire on the boat carrying him to freedom.
Peter Akpatason, the head of the blue-collar workers union, said his bloc and the white-collar union, which have a joint membership of around 20,000 Nigerians, would look to see if their concerns over security were being taken seriously before deciding on further action.
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