Oil sector officers on an indefinite strike; stay away from talks

New Delhi, Jan 07, 2009: Officers of 13 oil PSUs on Wednesday went on an indefinite strike, forcing shutdown of the nation's largest gas field and impacting operations in four key refineries but fuel supplies were not hit immediately. Operations at four refineries of Indian Oil Corp were affected, while ONGC's crude output fell to 270,000 barrel a day from the usual 350,000 bpd.

All other refineries and oil installations functioned normally, Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said here.

South Bassein gas field in western offshore was the first casualty, with executives in Oil and Natural Gas Corp and gas transporter GAIL India cutting supplies to power and fertilizer units even before the strike began at 0600 hrs.

As only 17 million standard cubic meters per day of gas was in production against the capacity of 50 mscmd, three power plants and 14 fertiliser units fed by gas were shut down that too mostly in Gujarat. Pandey said ONGC was trying to restore supplies.

However, the strike had no impact on LPG output or aviation fuel services.

The officers also stayed away from a meeting called at the GAIL office by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora to discuss their demands. Deora, along with Pandey and oil company chiefs, waited for over 2.5 hours.

"Some of the demands are outside my ministry's purview. They're out of my jurisdictioon and the Committee of Ministers headed by The Home Minister is the only appropriate body. I request officers to resume duties," Deora said.

At least 17 officers were suspended and two arrested. Sources said the government was willing to revoke the suspension and release those arrested if they resume duties from tomorrow.

(Agencies)