STRIKE SHUTS NIGERIAN OIL WELLS !

The violence in Nigeria has shut down a fifth of its oil production. Staff at Nigeria's state oil company have started an indefinite strike over welfare benefits and in protest at the privatisation of a major oil refinery.
Deliveries to Nigeria's four refineries have been halted by striking workers, with a long queue of tankers outside.
A BBC reporter in the oil capital, Port Harcourt says the strike is remarkably effective.
A trade union spokesman said talks with the government to try to resolve the dispute were due to be held later.
Recent attacks on Nigeria's oil facilities and the threat of this strike are factors in the latest oil price rises.
Peter Akpatason, president of the junior oil workers' union Nupeng said that if their demands are not met soon, they would also stop work in oil production facilities.
"We will wait for two or three days and see what happens. If we don't get the desired results, we will then extend it to the upstream sector where the impact will be immediate," he said, according to Reuters news agency.
The oil workers' strike comes just days before the scheduled inauguration of Umaru Yar'Adua as president of Africa's most populous nation.
Similar strikes have led to widespread fuel shortages - including aviation fuel - in the past in Africa's biggest oil producing country.
A separate two-day strike by all unions is planned to coincide with Mr Yar'Adua's inauguration next Tuesday.
Nigeria's Bureau of Public Enterprises last week sold the Port Harcourt Refinery to two prominent businessmen as part of its privatisation exercise, an action that has not gone down well with the company's employees, who fear possible job losses.
Oil workers have recently lost some of their allowances, as the government decided that all state workers should enjoy the same benefits.

BBC NEWS REPORT.