---

Crude oil production at India's refineries neared normal rates on Sunday after a three-day strike oil firm employees ended on Friday, thereby limiting the effect of the protest on marine fuel supplies. Local bunker firms were still facing delivery backlogs as a result of the strike, however.

The strike was called off after the government took a tough stance against the protesters, saying that action would be taken against them if they did not return to work.

“We made it very clear that either you work or you go to jail,” Oil Secretary R.S. Pandey said.

Meanwhile, oil companies were also reported to have dismissed some strikers as a result of the strike action.

The protest by more than 50,000 oil industry workers affected operations at 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).

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

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, which faces national elections by May, sought to minimize the disruption of oil supplies and refused to negotiate until the strike was called off.

The strike had also had an impact on marine fuel supplies in the country, as local suppliers found themselves unable to load up their barges with fuel oil due to the strike action.

In the port of Mumbai, one supplier told Bunker Index last week 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 until the weekend before supplies would eventually start to run out.

Speaking to Bunker Index today, the same bunker supplier said that even though it did not run out of supplies last week, it was now faced with a backlog of delivery commitments after receiving a larger-than-normal number of nominations over the weekend from customers that did not nominate on Thursday and Friday.

R. S. Pandey told reporters at the country's biggest oil conference, Petrotech yesterday, that oil production was now "more or less normal".

Indian Oil Corp's seven refineries were said to be operating at almost full capacity on Sunday except for the 260,000 barrels-per-day Koyali refinery at Gujarat.