AmericasOffshore

Petrobras strike cost 2.29m barrels of oil in lost production

Petrobras revealed on Monday that the recently concluded oil workers strike cost the firm 2.29m barrels of oil and and 48.4 million cubic metres of natural gas in lost production, largely at offshore sites.

The strike effectively ended on Friday when a holdout union Sindipetro Norte Fluminense agreed to return to work.

The FUP federation, to which Sindipetro NF belongs, had recommended ending the labour action on Saturday 14 November. But Sindipetro NF represents workers responsible for the bulk of the country’s oil and gas output and it wanted a better deal on compensation for the period of the 20-day strike, insisting all strikers be fully paid for the period of the strike. Brazil’s troubled state oil giant had proposed paying for only half of the days workers were on strike.

The strike began on November 1 because the unions were unhappy about Petrobras’ austerity measures, especially cutbacks in budget and investment and the planned sell-off of some assets.

It is believed to be the most disruptive strike that Petrobras has faced in 20 years. The company is reeling from a huge bribes-for-contracts scandal that has stained its reputation and hammered its bottom line, compounded by the slump in the oil price.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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