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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- The workers' union behind a strike that slashed Nigeria's oil output and helped send crude prices soaring to historic heights ended its work action on Thursday and said regular production would quickly resume.
Energy giant Shell's plant on the Sambreiro River in the Niger Delta is one of many plants threatened by militants.
The head of the workers' bloc behind the strike at a ExxonMobil Corp. unit in Africa's biggest oil producing nation said members would return to their work stations after negotiators reached a broad accord with management.
Oil production will be restored "immediately," Olufola George-Olumoroti, head of the white-collar bloc inside ExxonMobil's Nigeria joint venture, said Thursday. ExxonMobil said in a statement that it was beginning to restart production.
Before the strike, Nigeria was producing about 2.1 million barrels of crude each day. The strike helped drive oil prices to all-time highs.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC's local unit also is suffering from shortfalls after Niger Delta militants blew up transport pipelines. Shell has said it may not be able to meet supply contracts totaling 169,000 barrels per day through May.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer and a leading supplier of crude to the United States. But China and India are also making inroads into Nigeria's petroleum sector, which is beset by militant and criminal activities.
Some analysts estimate that up to 10 percent of Nigeria's production is lost to black-market traders who steal oil from pipelines and ship it overseas for resale. E-mail to a friend 
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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