Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 2 -- Gabon has asked Shell Gabon to restart 6,000 b/d of oil production at its Gamba site, leaving around 54,000 b/d of production still shut in amid an oil workers' strike.
Shell Gabon, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell PLC 75% and the government of Gabon 25%, shut in 60,000 b/d of production Mar. 20 following the start of the workers' strike.
An additional 30,000 b/d of production from Total Gabon and Perenco SA, which passes through the Gamba terminal, also has been curtailed.
Shell managed to undertake some maintenance work at its strike-hit operations in Gabon on Mar. 31, as union officials threatened to extend the worker protest to the whole of the country's oil industry.
"Some vital equipment has been restarted [on Mar. 31] to prevent damage to our infrastructure," Shell Gabon reported in a statement.
Gabon's National Organization of Petroleum Workers (ONEP) is demanding various labor concessions from the oil industry on working hours and time off. Marathon Oil workers have notified the union that they will be joining Shell Gabon workers on strike Apr. 2.
Gabon produced about 270,000 b/d in 2007, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
