Talks with oil PSU execs fail; pumps going dry on low supplies

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) Fuel supplies in many parts of
India were affected on the second day of the indefinite strike
by oil PSU executives that also resulted in refineries running
below capacity and impacted oil and gas production.

Talks with Oil Sector Officers Association, the umbrella
body of 14 state-run companies, failed Thursday even as
reports from several parts of the country said petrol pumps
were running dry and aviation refuelling operations were
getting delayed because of the absence of officers.

In the national capital, about 40 percent of the petrol
pumps owned by Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum went out of
stocks, but those of Hindustan Petroleum were operating
normally as the company is not part of the agitation.

"We have been managing the situation till now, but there
are supply constraints," IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria said.
"If the strike continues, we may also see dry-outs from
tomorrow."

There were reports of long queues at petrol pumps and
delays in delivery of domestic LPG cylinders.

"The petrol pumps are running low on inventory in
anticipation of a petrol and diesel price cut," he said,
adding senior management personnel have been deployed at
airports to refuel airplanes.

The Government, however, maintained that the situation
was still manageable. "Some shortages can be there but the
situation is under control," said Additional Secretary in the
Petroleum Ministry S Sunderasan.

OSOA President Amit Kumar, surfacing after two days of
hiding, held talks with company management on their demands
for higher wages. But the talks, the first OSOA attended in a
week's time, failed as the union kept harping that the
Government accept their demands, Behuria said.

Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police scooped in on the meeting
venue at Noida but the OSOA leaders including Amit Kumar
managed to escape after the management told the big contingent
of cops to stay away till talks concluded.

"We met OSOA this morning but progress could not be made
as they were harping on the same issues. We said we can do
nothing on their demands (for large hike in pay) since a
high-level ministerial committee headed by Home Minister P
Chidambaram has already been formed and it will give report in
30 days. But they didn't budge," Behuria said.

The striking officers are protesting lower-than-expected
increase in pay approved by the Government in November 2008.

There was a backlog of domestic LPG supplies in many
parts, particularly in the South, as the truckers' stir
disrupted movement of the cooking gas.

Behuria said the problem was because of inadequate
loading at the refineries.

IOC's seven refineries were producing only 40 per cent of
their output, with production being impacted at its key
refineries at Panipat and Mathura.

Its Koyali refinery in Gujarat was producing only 25 per
cent of the normal output, while BPCL's Mumbai refinery was
operating at 70 per cent of its capacity.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp's key Bassein and adjoining
fields in the western offshore remained shut for the second
day impacting fuel supply to power and fertiliser plants.
Crude oil production from its Mumbai High fields was also
down.

HPCL was taking products from private refiner Essar to
fill in the gaps. Essar, which is operating its 1,000 petrol
stations 24x7, had committed to supply 450,000 kilolitres of
petrol and diesel to the three fuel retailers and most of this
currently is being taken by HPCL. PTI