Nigeria strike could cut oil supply and raise prices

NEW YORK – One of the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States may shut off the spigot this weekend, pushing crude and gasoline prices higher for Americans.

Nigeria, which supplies 8 percent of U.S. oil imports, could see production halted if striking workers walk off the job Sunday. Workers are demanding the return of a vital government fuel subsidy that has kept gasoline prices low in that impoverished nation of 160 million people.

At worst, the country’s 20,000 unionized oil workers could take as much as 2.4 million barrels of daily crude production off the market, striking at the heart of Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy.

Stocks slide, but still end the week with gains

NEW YORK – Banks led the market lower after JPMorgan Chase posted a rare earnings miss. Reports that European governments were about to get their credit ratings cut drove the euro down and sent Treasury prices up.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 49 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 12,422 Friday. Markets were little changed after France’s finance minister confirmed that Standard & Poor’s had stripped the country of its AAA credit rating.

The S&P 500 index fell 6, or 0.5 percent to 1,289. The Nasdaq fell 14, or 0.5 percent, to 2,711.

Even with Friday’s fall, all three indexes posted gains for the second straight week.

Dead River buying Webber’s home heating oil division

BANGOR -The largest petroleum products distributor in northern New England is buying the home heating oil division of another fuel company in Maine.

Portland-based Dead River Co. is buying Bangor-based Webber Energy Fuels’ retail heating oil business for an undisclosed price. The acquisition does not include Webber’s wholesale fuels, gasoline, insurance and other divisions.

Webber has more than 100,000 home heating accounts in Maine and southern New Hampshire. The 225 Webber employees who are in the retail division will become Dead River employees.

The Bangor Daily News reported that the companies signed a purchase and sale agreement Thursday. It will be several weeks before the deal is closed.

FAME to insure loan to help keep Madawaska paper jobs

MADAWASKA – The Finance Authority of Maine says it has approved loan insurance that will help Twin Rivers Paper Co. maintain more than 600 jobs in Madawaska.

FAME is insuring 90 percent of a $5.3 million loan by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to provide working capital for Twin Rivers.

FAME says it’s part of a larger financial package that will allow the paper company to retain 630 jobs in Madawaska, where it operates a paper mill, and 400 jobs in Edmundston, New Brunswick, where it operates a pulp and energy complex. The company also has a sawmill in New Brunswick.

FAME Chairwoman Susan Snowden says that with the cash infusion she expects the company to remain competitive in the global economy.

— From news service reports