Nigeria consulting unions before fuel subsidies cut

* President sees ending fuel subsidies as key to reforms

* Unions have threatened a general strike

* No date yet for ending subsidies

By Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria will forge ahead with the abolition of fuel subsidies despite the threat of a general strike but will not change pump prices until consultations with the unions are concluded, the presidency said late on Tuesday.

Fuel subsidies cost Nigeria 640 billion naira ($4.3 billion) last year, almost a quarter of the country's original 2008 budget, and the government has repeatedly said they will be abolished as part of deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

"President (Umaru) Yar'Adua believes deregulation is central to the reform of the oil and gas sector and that we must begin to think and act not only with an eye on the short term," presidency spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said.

"For that reason he insists on continuous dialogue with labour and other critical stakeholders until we reach a meaningful consensus, and hopefully that will come very soon," he told reporters in Abuja.