More than 150 Virgin Nigeria flight passengers were stranded at the Johannesburg International Airport, on route to Nigeria following the airliner’s fears than it would not be able to find fuel in Nigeria after recent oil worker strikes.
The flight was cancelled because of fears that the airline might run out of fuel because of the oil workers strike that took place in the country last week. The strike was planned to take place from 13 to 15 September 2006, but it only took place for a day. Virgin airline still cancelled its flights two days after the strike was called off.
The airline�s officials in South Africa told the media that the airline had not been able to re-fuel in Nigeria, although the strike was called off.
Nigeria�s national strike was planned by the two industrial unions � National Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), to protest the continuing violence against oil workers in the Niger Delta region.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest producer of crude and the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the United States. Kidnappings and militant attacks in the southern Niger Delta region, where most crude is pumped, have cut production by nearly 900 000 barrels per day this year.