West African crude differentials were stable on Wednesday but are more widely trending downwards according to traders, while Nigeria's oil workers union called off strikes.
Nigeria's oil workers union has agreed to call off a strike after a meeting with the management of Dangote Petroleum and government officials, the country's labour ministry said.
The strike was called after the Dangote refinery dismissed more than 800 unionised staff. The walkout had threatened fuel supply and trade across West Africa.
Exports of four key Nigerian crude oil grades will average around 641,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, preliminary programmes seen by Reuters showed, down from a planned 807,000 bpd in October.
West African differentials are trending lower as higher freight rates and slowing seasonal demand weigh on sentiment, trade sources have told Reuters this week.
In upstream news, Italy's ENI announced on Wednesday it has acquired a new exploration block offshore Ivory Coast.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
