Tuesday, May 30 2006 14:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Officers of public sector oil companies will go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow that may cripple aviation fuel supply within hours and hit auto fuel supplies in a couple of days.

Work at refineries and oil and gas production may also come to a halt due to the strike.

"We will strike work from 0600 hrs tomorrow morning as the government has failed to keep its promise on raising wages," said Ashok Singh, convener of Oil Sector Officers' Association, a representative body of executives of oil PSUs.

Though Singh claimed officers of all the 12 public sector firms would join the strike, Petroleum Ministry sources said there were indications that Indian Oil Corp, country's largest retailer with just under 50 per cent market share, and Oil India Ltd, India's second largest oil producer, may not participate in the strike.

The worst hit would be Oil and Natural Gas Corp, India's largest oil and gas producer, and refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd.

Singh charged the PSU managements with creating confusion and 'misleading' Petroleum Minister Murli Deora that there would not be a strike.

"On January 11, 2000, the PSU managements kept misleading the ministry that there would be no strike but when we actually struck work, grounding aviation facilities, the then minister had to intervene," he said.

At a meeting with OSOA last week, the oil ministry agreed that the salary grievance was genuine but the Department of Public Enterprises stuck to its previous stand of not being able to bring about an enhancement in remuneration.

Singh claimed refineries have already cut crude intake and would go on 'circulation' soon. Oil and gas production at Mumbai High field, India's largest oilfield, would be halted from tomorrow.

The association has served a strike notice to the Ministry and the respective oil PSU managements after a January 2000 MoU with the Ministry on wage revision was not implemented.

The association is making a case for an entry-level salary of Rs 50,000 per month (from Rs 20,000 per month at present) for management trainees and commensurate rise in emoluments at senior levels.

"We are faced with a scenario where private sector is offering five times PSU salaries to wean away talent," Singh said, adding the 'brain-drain' if unchecked would lead to collapse of public sector firms.

OSOA, which represents one-third of 130,000 strong workforces in PSUs including ONGC, IOC, OIL, BPCL, HPCL, GAIL, had last struck work on January 11, 2000, which had crippled aviation services.

The strike lasted only four hours with the then Petroleum Minister Ram Naik agreeing to look into their demands.

"As per the January 11, 2000 MoU with Petroleum Ministry, the salary and compensation of oil sector officers was to be raised from January 1, 2002. But that promise has not yet been fulfilled," he said.

Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan, he said, has written to Department of Public Enterprises, which governs wages of all PSU's, for a raise but no action has been taken.