Gabon oil union threatens nationwide shutdown

LIBREVILLE, March 29 (Reuters) - Oil industry unions in Gabon threatened to call a nationwide strike if they fail to reach a deal to end a strike at Shell's (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) subsidiary in the country, where 60,000 bpd is shut down.

"We are calling for the mobilisation of all ONEP members," Guy Roger Aurat Reteno, secretary-general of Gabon's National Organisation of Petroleum Workers (ONEP), told reporters late on Friday in the capital Libreville.

Gabon's forecast production in 2007 was 240,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA). (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com) (Reporting by Antoine Lawson; Writing by Alistair Thomson; editing by Ian Jones)