Brazil striking oil workers to meet with Petrobras

SAO PAULO, July 16 (Reuters) - Oil workers who are now in their third day of a strike in Brazil's offshore Campos Basin will sit down with the state-run energy company Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) later Wednesday, a union leader said.

The union, which represents the basin that accounts for nearly 85 percent of Brazil's crude output, is demanding that days on which its workers depart from oil platforms for shore be counted as paid work days.

"Petrobras will be presenting a proposal, so we'll see," Jose Maria Rangel, coordinator of the Norte Fluminense Oil Workers Union, told Reuters. "So far, they have not addressed our demands."

The meeting is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), Rangel said.

The union began dampening production in the Campos Basin at midnight on Sunday, reducing Petrobras daily output by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels initially. But the company quickly dispatched emergency crews that it said brought production back up to normal output of 1.8 million bpd by early Tuesday.

Petrobras said the contingency teams in place would be able to maintain output at full capacity for the duration of the strike.

But the strike is scheduled to spread nationally on Thursday and Friday after a broader umbrella union for oil workers voted on Tuesday to go ahead with a protest for better profit sharing benefits.

The so-called FUP umbrella union for oil workers said the strike would not stop production, but could cause disruptions to operations at refineries or other installations.

"We also share the demands of the FUP union for better profit sharing and if Petrobras does not address this, FUP will meet on July 24 to vote on an extended strike scheduled for August 5 that will affect production," Rangel added.