Slipping oil prices linger around US$68

25-Jun-07

Oil prices slipped on Monday morning on news of halting of a strike in Nigeria by labor unions. Light, sweet crude for August delivery dipped to US$68.61 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. August Brent crude dropped to US$70.72 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Nymex crude futures rose on Friday after talks between union leaders and the government failed to produce an agreement. Nigerian labor unions, while accepting the government's proposal to hold off on raising fuel prices for a year, have called off their strike, ending a four-day work stoppage. The unions have accepted the government's proposal to hold, while accepting an earlier proposition to halve a previous price increase that sparked the strike.