BRAZIL: Energy giant Petrobras says oil production is at full capacity despite a strike by workers

Record ID: 344068

  • Title: BRAZIL: Energy giant Petrobras says oil production is at full capacity despite a strike by workers
  • Date: 16th July 2008
  • Summary: (BN15) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (JULY 15, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) CO-ORDINATOR OF THE NATIONAL UNITED OIL WORKERS' FEDERATION UMBRELLA UNION, HELIO SEIDEL, SAYING: "Several platforms handed over their production to the company (Petrobras) and asked to be taken ashore and began a strike. The strike got under way, it is a legal instrument recognised by the law. So if they have handed over the production quotas and started a strike, the company (Petrobras) must land them (workers), but the company is not offering proper transportation to take its workers ashore, so they are being held captive on the platforms"
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVACA61IPO21VOO1AYO5KA0SMS07
  • Story Text: Brazil's main oil workers' federation will begin a 48-hour nationwide strike on Thursday (July 17) without interrupting production, union leaders said after a vote on Tuesday.
    The strike seeks more profit sharing and is in solidarity with a separate 5-day work stoppage that oil workers started on Monday in the Campos Basin.
    Brazil energy giant Petrobras said on Tuesday (July 15) that its oil production was back at full capacity, despite a strike by its workers that has helped push up world oil prices.
    A spokesman for Petrobras said production was expected to remain at full capacity until the end of the five-day strike that started at midnight on Sunday.
    The Campos basin affected by the strike accounts for more than 80 percent of Brazil's crude output of 1.8 million barrels per day. Petrobras implemented a contingency plan to shore up oil output with emergency staff on most platforms in the Campos Basin. The company said late on Monday it was producing at 96 percent of its capacity.
    Union officials said on Tuesday there were no discussions planned with the state-run Petrobras and that they may extend the strike to the rest of the country and include refineries and shipping terminals.
    Helio Seidel, the coordinator of the national United Oil Workers' Federation umbrella union, known as FUP, said most platforms are operating in risky conditions.

    "The strike continues and of course the company (Petrobras) has managed to maintain the production in some platforms, but in precarious safety conditions and with potential risks," he said.
    FUP is expected to announce a wider strike over profit-sharing demands on Tuesday after a meeting with representatives from all Brazilian states.
    Seidel also said oil workers in the Campos Basin are facing difficulties to leave the offshore platforms.

    "Several platforms handed over their production to the company (Petrobras) and asked to be taken ashore and began a strike. The strike got underway, it is a legal instrument recognized by the law. So if they have handed over the production quotas and started a strike, the company (Petrobras) must land them (workers), but the company is not offering proper transportation to take its workers ashore, so they are being held captive on the platforms," he said, referring to the workers' demand that the company recognize the day employees leave a platform for shore as a paid work day.
    Aviraldo Menezes, director of the Norte Fluminense Oil Workers Union that covers oil workers on platforms in the Campos Basin, said the emergency crews could have problems maintaining output levels.
    A five-day nationwide strike of Petrobras workers in 2001 seriously reduced output and forced Brazil to import additional oil. Unions and the company have resolved their differences over the past few years without stoppages hurting production.
    Traders concerns last week over the strike helped push world oil prices to a new record on Friday above $147 a barrel, even though the strike was unlikely to reduce international oil trade.
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