Striking oil officers harden stand; supplies hit

08 January 2009

As the strike of PSU oil officers enters the second day, there is wide spread panic buying and queues at petrol pumps.

The officers of 13 oil PSUs went on strike yesterday at 6 am, affecting oil and gas production at Western Offshore.

Public sector oil firm executives had announced last month and also earlier last week that they would go on an indefinite strike from 7 January, over the "unkept promises" by the government on their wage demands.

The association representing the officers cadre of the 13 public sector oil companies, Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) has been in talks for nearly two and half years over the wage settlement.

The aviation sector is reported to have been hit and flights have been delayed by an average of 45 minutes, with the prospects of aviation turbine fuel supplies going dry looming. Yesterday there was an average delay of 25 to 30 minutes for most flights. Though airline heads have said that they are prepared to face the situation, storage capacity is limited and supplies are not likely to last beyond three or four days.

Seventeen fertilizer plants, which depend on GAIL for their gas supplies, have also shut down production due to lack of feedstock oil. Other plants may be forced to close down soon. According to Fertilizer Association of India, the production output affected is 50,000 tonnes per day.