The Hindu Business Line : Oil executives strike starts impacting daily life

New Delhi/Mumbai, Jan. 8 The petroleum traders are dreading Friday, as the impact of indefinite strike called by the public sector oil officers is expected to be much more on the consumers than what it has been on Thursday.

“If the strike continues, the situation would worsen as Friday is a working day. The impact would be felt more on the petroleum retail business and aviation sector,” the industry officials said.

The strike, called by the Oil Sector Officers’ Association (OSOA),entered the second day on Thursday.Till late Thursday, there was no news of any further negotiations with the Government. Thursday also saw the Government asking the company management to dismiss about 70 executives.

The officers were protesting as they were not satisfied with the recent pay revision announced by the Government.

According to the estimates available with Petroleum Ministry, nearly 30 per cent of petrol pumps in Delhi and about 100 in Mumbai went without petrol and diesel.

This is contrary to the estimates of the Federation of All-India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT).

“Almost 60 per cent of petrol pumps across the country have dried up and the situation would worsen,” Mr Ajay Bansal, General Secretary of FAIPT, told Business Line.

The Petroleum Ministry has maintained that operations for the aviation sector were more or less normal. Flight operations continued to be affected with Air India (Domestic) seeing delays of up to an hour from Mumbai.

At the airports, absence of officers led to delay in refuelling of airplanes and some flights were delayed. Jet fuel refuelling is a specialised job, besides, the DGCA allows only approved people to work inside the airport.

According to statements issued by Mumbai International Airport Ltd, 72 flights were delayed for the day, mostly comprising Jet Airways, Jetlite and Air India. These airlines receive fuel from Indian Oil Corporation. It also said that night operations for Wednesday remained normal.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines ruled out any delays in its flight schedule. Kingfisher Airlines depends on BPCL for its fuel supply, a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson of Jet Airways told Business Line in Mumbai that 12-15 flights of both Jet Airways and Jetlite combined were delayed by over 30 minutes.

The impact is now also being felt on the power sector, with the gas-based power units across the country facing shutdowns on Thursday. According to the Northern Region Load Despatch Centre data, around 1,500 MW of gas generation was “affected due to non-availability of fuel”.

Among key units, NTPC Ltd’s 830 MW Dadri gas-based thermal plant was closed today due to gas shortage, while operations at the 419 MW Anta station wereaffected.

According to company sources, NTPC is left with only around two days stock of naphtha and if the strike continues, it would run out of fuel.

“As of now plants should run on partial load to ensure generation for a longer duration,” an official said. The shortages have affected generation across States operating natural gas-based capacities. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has reported a dip in generation by around 300 MW at units in Vadodara, Utran and Dhuvaran due to fuel shortages. Power generation in Maharashtra was down by an estimated 1,000 MW, leading to increased load shedding. Mahavitaran, the power distribution company, said the fall in generation by 1,000 MW has forced it to go for increased load shedding in the evening by one-and-a-half hour.

The strike has affected gas production significantly. CNG pumps in Mumbai went without gas after officers in ONGC stopped natural gas production off Mumbai shore. Delhi may also see a CNG crisis on Friday.

Impact was also seen in the steel sector, as gas supplies have come down sharply and completely stopped since Wednesday night. All the three gas based steel manufacturers on the west coast has been hit. Ispat Industries has already shut down its sponge iron unit, company officials said. Similarly Vikram Ispat (formerly a division of Grasim but recently taken over by the Welspun group) too has shut down its sponge iron unit, as gas was not available. Essar Steel officials said that gas supply has shrunk drastically but maintained that the plant has not been shut down. “But our steel production has been affected seriously,” company officials said.

Indian Oil Corporation’s seven refineries were producing only 40 per cent of their output. Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s Mumbai refinery was operating at 70 per cent of its capacity. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was taking products from private refiner Essar to meet the requirements.

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