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03/10/2006:

"Ecuador fights to recover oil output after strike"

QUITO, Ecuador, March 8 (Reuters) - Petroecuador said on Wednesday it expected to bring oil production to near normal levels in three or four days after troops fired tear gas to clear out strikers who have cut crude output at Ecuador's state oil firm by nearly half.

Production was down to 96,360 barrels of oil per day -- a slight improvement from earlier on Wednesday when the ongoing strike slashed output by nearly three-quarters. Petroecuador normally produces around 200,000 bpd.

Petroecuador said in a statement it expects production to rise to 190,000 bpd in about four days as troops gradually clear striking contract workers from its oil infrastructure and wells.
A company official said Petroecuador could hire replacement employees to start operations.

"It will be difficult because of the number of workers, but we can sign new contracts with the same sub-contracting companies and they can hire other workers," Jaime Crow, head of Petroecuador production division, told Reuters.

The roughly 4,000 contract workers walked off the job to demand full-time jobs and delayed payments. Strike leaders vowed to continue with the protest.

"Neither Petroecuador nor the government has given us an answer to our demands," said Luis Ubidia, a union leader, by telephone. "The strike will continue for the moment."

The strike is the latest dispute to hit Ecuador's oil industry and embattled President Alfredo Palacio. Last month, protesters forced a cut in exports after briefly shutting two pipelines to demand a bigger share of oil revenues.
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