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Petrobras oil workers strike
RIO DE JANEIRO--A strike by Brazil's biggest oil workers union stopped a significant amount of oil and gas production at Petróleo Brasileiro SA , and that the company's alternate board chairman was stepping down just two months after his appointment.
Petrobras said that the strike affected 13% of the company's daily oil production and 14% of the company's daily natural gas production on Monday. The strike affected 273,000 barrels of oil production and 7.3 million cubic meters of natural gas production, the company said.
The Oil Workers Federation , or FUP, began the strike on Sunday to protest a series of asset sales by Petrobras after the union held more than three months of negotiations with the company. The FUP represents platform and refinery workers, among others.
The company said it is "taking the necessary measures" to maintain production, and said that "despite the effect on production of oil and gas in Brazil as a result of the strike, distribution is functioning within normal limits and there is no forecast of a market shortage."
Separately, Petrobras said Tuesday that its alternate board chairman, Clovis Torres Junior, was stepping down "for personal reasons," just two months after assuming the post. Mr. Torres Junior was appointed alternate chairman in September after the previous chairman, Murilo Ferreira , took a leave of absence.
Mr. Ferreira himself had only assumed the chairman post in April of this year during a major management shake-up in the wake of a massive corruption scandal. His leave of absence raised questions about possible boardroom turmoil, questions that are likely to resurface after Tuesday's announcement.
On top of all that, earlier this week a different board member was arrested during a protest by the striking workers and later released.
Deyvid Bacelar , the lone board member appointed by Petrobras employees, said he was arrested just before midnight on Monday outside a Petrobras refinery in northern Bahia state, and was told he was being held for "disrespecting authority." He said he was driven around for several hours by police before being released.
"It was surreal," Mr. Bacelar said in a brief telephone interview.
A state police representative in the town of São Francisco do Conde confirmed that Mr. Bacelar was arrested and later released.
Representatives from Petrobras didn't respond to a request for comment about Mr. Bacelar's arrest.
The small protest outside the Landulpho Alves refinery , Brazil's first national refinery, was part of the nationwide strike.
Petrobras plans to divest itself of more than $15 billion in assets this year and next, and as much as $58 billion by 2019, as part of wide-ranging cost cuts to deal with write-offs from a corruption scandal and a debt load of more than $130 billion , the largest in the energy industry.
The FUP said the cost cuts will lead to thousands of layoffs and have a negative effect on the already weak Brazilian economy, which depends heavily on Petrobras for jobs.
Write to Will Connors at [e-mail]
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-03-15 2041ET
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