Oil union to continue strike … output 1.5mn bpd

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KUWAIT CITY, April 19, (Agencies): The spokesman for thousands of striking Kuwaiti oil and gas workers said on Tuesday that their three-day-old strike would continue until planned public sector pay reforms are cancelled. “The strike is ongoing until the implementation of the demands of the workers,” Farhan al-Ajmi, head of the Petrochemicals Industries Company workers union, told a press conference. “A decision to cancel (the strike) is linked to the abolition of decisions issued by the Petroleum Corporation,” he added.

Oil Sector Spokesman Sheikh Talal Al- Khaled announced Tuesday that Kuwait’s oil facilities’ average daily production has surged to 1.5 million barrel. Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is racing against time to resume operation of oil collection centers No. 21 and 24 to return the state’s oil and gas production back to previous levels, Sheikh Talal said in a press statement.

He stressed that the execution pace of the oil sector’s contingency plan is great and more than expected. The KOC’s production of crude oil in northern wells have returned back to normal levels, Sheikh Talal said, noting that KOC’s re-operation of crude collection center No. 11, located southeastern Kuwait, has also boosted output.

He disclosed that the KOC is currently relying highly-qualified professionals and cadres to resume operation in other collection centers, especially No. 7 and No. 19. The KOC is now choosing which one to start with, he said. Sheikh Talal said that operation plan in Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) goes as planned. “We are working to operate the industrial island,” he said, adding that two tankers are loaded with gas and sulfur in Mina Al-Ahmadi terminal and the KNPC is prepared to load anther tanker with fuel oil Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier and Acting Oil Minister Anas Al-Saleh Monday called on all oil sector employees to return to their work stations for the higher goal of preserving Kuwait’s reputation and interests. In a statement issued by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), Al-Saleh, also Minister of Finance, reiterated that the workers’ financial benefits and salaries are not to be tampered with.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and State Minister for Planning and Development Hind Al- Sabeeh vowed on Tuesday that no illegal action would be taken against the three-day oil strike. She told a news conference that an ad hoc committee comprising legal teams from the Cabinet, Fatwa and Legislation Department and Public Authority for Manpower would not take any decision unless it was absolutely legal.

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