---

A strike by employees of India's state-run oil companies is set to have an immediate impact on marine fuel supplies in the port of Mumbai if the protest is not resolved over the next 2-3 days, market sources told Bunker Index.

The first day of the indefinite strike by staff at the country's public sector oil firms saw a shutdown of a number of prominent companies including Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) and its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).

According to the Oil Sector Officers' Association (OSOA), which is spearheading the strike, some 55,000 employees did not report for work yesterday.

The striking members of staff are demanding a higher wage compensation, contending that their pay scale has been reduced in comparison to what Central Government employees are receiving.

The strike action has led to a decrease of approximately 30 percent in the production of crude oil and gas at the country's refineries.

One local bunker supplier told Bunker Index that it had loaded up its delivery barges with fuel oil before the strike action commenced. However, it calculated that it would only have enough marine fuel for the next 2-3 days before supplies would start to run low.

Meanwhile, sources at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) have reportedly said that operations at the refinery had not been affected on Wednesday.

The refinery is an important source for fuel oil cargoes for the Asian market and is scheduled to prepare an 80,000-tonne parcel of 3.5 percent-sulphur parcel of 380-centistoke (cst) fuel oil for loading between January 26th and 28th from New Mangalore. Energy trading company Vitol is said to be the purchaser of the cargo.