Strike at Shell-Gabon Ends After 12 Days

A strike that halted production at Shell-Gabon and an oil terminal used by other companies since March 20 was called off late Tuesday.

The company, in which Royal Dutch Shell Plc. has a 75 percent stake and the Gabon government a 25 percent stake, announced the strike had ended after mediation by Gabonese President Omar Bongo between unions and management.

"We are very happy," Arnaud Engandji, spokesman for the National Oil Workers' Organisation, told Agence France-Presse. "This will change the economic and social landscape of the sector. We have obtained satisfaction on all the important points that we were asking for. So we're lifting the strike."

A representative of Shell-Gabon said the group was "satisfied".

"The strike is finished and that's what we wanted. We want to thank the president and the national authorities for their efforts to find a way out that would satisfy all sides."

The strikers did not get the dismissal of Shell-Gabon head Hans Bakker as they had demanded, Engandji conceded, but all their other demands were met.

The strike at the Gamba terminal had entirely halted production of 60,000 barrels per day by the Anglo-Dutch Shell giant, which owns it, as well as 30,000 barrels per day by other oil companies that share the facility