No deal: Petrobras and oil workers fail to reach agreement
Petrobras strike talks fail
Brazilian oil workers will remain on strike for two more days after failing to reach an agrrement after holding talks with state-run producer Petrobras, a union spokesman said.
"There is no agreement, the standoff continues," Jose Maria Rangel, co-ordinator of the Norte Fluminense Oil Workers’ Union, told Reuters yesterday, the third day of a five-day strike.
Petrobras did not immediately have a statement.
Oil workers in the Campos Basin, which accounts for nearly 85% of Brazil's crude output, started the strike at midnight on Sunday over demands that days on which workers depart from oil platforms be counted as paid work days.
Petrobras said in a statement last night that it made a new proposal which the union would consider in its next assembly.
Currently workers spend 14 days on a platform and 21 days at home. On duty they are entitled to 11 hours rest but in practice they sometimes get less, said Rangel.
The union began dampening production in the Campos Basin at midnight on Sunday, reducing Petrobras daily output by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels initially. But the company quickly dispatched emergency crews, and said they brought production back up to normal output of 1.8 million bpd by early on Tuesday.
Petrobras said the contingency teams could maintain output at full capacity for the duration of the strike.
But a nationwide solidarity strike is scheduled for today and Friday after a broad union for oil workers voted to proceed with a protest for more profit-sharing benefits.
The FUP umbrella union for oil workers said the strike would not stop production, but could cause disruptions to operations at refineries or other installations.
"We also share the demands of the FUP union for better profit sharing and if Petrobras does not address this, FUP will meet on 24 July to vote on an extended strike scheduled for 5 August that will affect production," Rangel said earlier.
A five-day nationwide strike by Petrobras workers in 2001 slashed output and forced Brazil to import more oil. Unions and the company have resolved differences over the past few years without stoppages hurting production.
US light crude futures traded down at $134.88 per barrel Wednesday after tumbling $6.44 to close at $138.74 on Tuesday, its largest one-day price fall in 17 years.