Nigeria's main oil unions have reached a deal with Labor Ministry officials and local energy firm Tidex Wednesday to avert a threatened strike, a statement issued Wednesday by the unions said.

The senior staff ENGASSAN and blue-collar NUPENG unions called off a three-day warning strike targeting Nigeria's 2.3 million barrels per day output after the management of Tidex agreed to withdraw all the redundancies and retirement letters already issued to staff, said the statement issued after the talks in the capital.

The statement added that consultations between the oil company and the unions on the planned job cuts would be concluded within 21 days.

The agreement came after the unions reached a deal with oil giants Shell and Chevron Texaco last week.

The oil unions had threatened to escalate the strike to an indefinite one if their concerns over possible layoffs at state energy firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Shell and contract employment were ignored.