Lagos — Members of Pengassan (the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria) who were on strike at the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria have suspended the strike, the company announced here Wednesday.

The workers suspended the strike late Tuesday to pave the way for discussions between the company and Pengassan, a Shell official said. A meeting between the management and leaders of the strikers had been going on since Friday, but no agreements have been reached by the two parties.

Cuts in crude production and shutdown of flowstations - which metre the volume of crude and take it to the export terminals - forced Shell to declare force majeure starting July 3rd and lasting up to August 9, 2001. Shell also blamed its move on community unrest.

The suspension of the strike is expected to lead to an improvement in crude production by Shell, said to have fallen by about 300,000 barrels per day, as a result of the strike. A joint venture between Shell and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation accounts for nearly half of Nigeria's crude production.

The official said workers were re-opening the flowstations, but explained that "we need some time to collect information" on Shell's operations spread across the Niger Delta region before deciding whether the force majeure declaration may be lifted early.