Presidential aide says strike by Brazil oil workers may end soon

A strike by offshore oil workers in Brazil could be settled before its scheduled end on Friday, a senior official said Tuesday. Presidential aide Luiz Dulci said state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA could reach agreement with striking workers "in the next few days." Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Mercosur ministers, Dulci also said the strike poses no threat of fuel shortages. Concerns about supply cuts helped push international oil prices higher as the strike started on Monday. Petrobras spokesman Celso Mansur said Tuesday that output already "is totally normalized." "Contingency workers - supervisors and team coordinators - managed to get production back to normal," he said, adding that the company's output on Monday dropped by only 63,000 barrels. Petrobras produces approximately 1.6 million barrels of... [read full story]