Oil prices ease in Asian trade as Nigerian strike fails to achieve immediate impact
22 Jun 2007
Singapore: Oil prices edged lower in Asian trading hours as market players appeared to believe that a general strike in Nigeria would not have a significant impact on oil supplies.
At
11.05 am here (0305 GMT), the New York Mercantile Exchange''s
main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery
in August, was down $0.08 at $68.57 per barrel from
$68.65 in late trading in the US overnight.
Brent North Sea crude for August was down $0.01 at $70.21.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress started the strike Wednesday after the government refused to reverse an increase in fuel prices at the pump.
With
the country''s crude production and exports unaffected
so far, the unions called on their members to set up
''compliance squads'' to ensure the strike achieves its
aim of paralysing the economy.