PENGASSAN THREATENS TO SHUT DOWN CRUDE OUTPUT

Nigerian oil workers threatened on Wednesday to shut down output in Africa's top crude producer, deepening a national strike over a more than doubling of petrol prices.
With the government and unions locked in a showdown which has paralysed Nigeria for three days, the biggest oil union said it would make a decision later in the day, although industry officials doubted it could shut down crude exports completely.

"We are not on the streets today because by the evening ... the national leadership of the oil workers will announce its decision on when to shut down production as well as export terminals," Chika Onuegbu, national industrial relations officer of oil union PENGASSAN, told Reuters.
A definite decision to strike had yet to be made, but he added: "That will mark the beginning of the next phase of the protest against the removal of fuel subsidy and it will be very disastrous for the country."
Nigeria exports over two million barrels of crude oil per day and is a major supplier to the United States and Europe. Output has been unaffected so far but concerns about Nigerian supply can move global oil prices.
Oil industry officials said a complete halt to oil exports was unlikely because processes are automated and some workers non-unionised. However, even a small dent in output would heap pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan's government, which relies on crude exports for 95 percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and most of its state revenue.
Tens of thousands of Nigerians gathered across the country of 160 million people in protests that have focused anger about decades of corruption and economic mismanagement.
Workers vowed to keep up the indefinite strike unless the government restored a fuel subsidy it scrapped on January 1, but Jonathan's government said it would withhold pay from civil servants who join it.