Brazil oil refinery slowdown not impacting production: Petrobras

A refinery work slowdown has not affected production, Brazil's government-run oil company Petrobras said Thursday.

Petrobras said in statement that a contingency plan ensured production during the slowdown at the nation's refineries that was launched in solidarity with striking oil rig workers and to demand a greater share of the company's profits.

Offshore oil workers struck on Monday to demand an extra day off to compensate for travel time to and from the rigs.

Talks between Petrobras and the unions failed to end that strike Wednesday. Petrobras says the strike has not affected production in the Campos basin, where Brazil gets 80 percent of its oil.

Petrobras said Wednesday its proposal met the union's demands, but Marcos Breda, a spokesman for the Sindipetro-NF union that represents offshore oil workers in the Campos Basin, said the proposal still needed to be discussed by workers.

Other Petrobras workers are set to launch a larger, general strike for improved working conditions and profit sharing on Aug. 5.

Petrobras, one of the world's largest oil companies, pumps an average of 1.6 million barrels of crude a day.

Oil prices early this week soared in part because of the strike, but have retreated since then. However, analysts and investors are watching the strikes closely because they could still affect international petroleum prices.

Petrobras shares were down 1.3 percent at 39.24 reals (US$24.67) in early afternoon trading Thursday on Sao Paulo's Bovespa exchange. The stock is down 4.5 percent since the strike began.