LIBREVILLE, March 13 (Reuters) - Gabon's main oil industry trade union has agreed to suspend strike plans and open negotiations with the government over labour regulations governing the sector, the government said late on Friday.
The ONEP union this week set a deadline of Friday midnight for resolving a dispute on whether the energy sector should be required to provide uninterrupted minimal service, a proviso it argued would undermine its leverage in collective bargaining.
The strike would have threatened to shut off some 250,000 barrels of crude per day from the country, Africa's seventh largest producer and home to the operations of several foreign oil companies including France's Total.
'The two sides have agreed to open negotiations ... (which) should reach agreement on a regulatory text setting out the implementation of minimum service in the oil sector,' a government statement read out on national television said.
'The government and the ONEP affirm their intention to reach an agreement rapidly,' it added.
For a FACTBOX on foreign oil investments in Gabon, click here:
(Reporting by Linel Kwatsi; writing by Mark John)
((richard.valdmanis@thomsonreuters.com; Dakar newsroom +221 33 864 5076)) Keywords: GABON OIL/STRIKE (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The ONEP union this week set a deadline of Friday midnight for resolving a dispute on whether the energy sector should be required to provide uninterrupted minimal service, a proviso it argued would undermine its leverage in collective bargaining.
The strike would have threatened to shut off some 250,000 barrels of crude per day from the country, Africa's seventh largest producer and home to the operations of several foreign oil companies including France's Total.
'The two sides have agreed to open negotiations ... (which) should reach agreement on a regulatory text setting out the implementation of minimum service in the oil sector,' a government statement read out on national television said.
'The government and the ONEP affirm their intention to reach an agreement rapidly,' it added.
For a FACTBOX on foreign oil investments in Gabon, click here:
(Reporting by Linel Kwatsi; writing by Mark John)
((richard.valdmanis@thomsonreuters.com; Dakar newsroom +221 33 864 5076)) Keywords: GABON OIL/STRIKE (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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