Operations of OIL in Assam blocked by AASU

The operations of Oil India Ltd at its headquarters at Duliajan here and its oil fields in upper Assam have been blocked by the All Assam Students' Union for the fourth day today incurring daily loss of Rs 40 crore.
All offices of the oil major, including its administration, production, human resource development, along with its oil fields were blocked by AASU agitators, OIL spokesman Tridip Hazarika told PTI here.
Oil India was incurring a cascading loss of Rs 30 crore to 40 crore daily from halt in drilling operations, oil production, LPG bottling plant, sale of gas to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd, tea gardens and APDCL, Hazarika said.

The halt in drilling and production also aged oil reservoirs in its fields at Kathaloni, Dekom, Naharkatia, Moran, Jorajan, Barekuria and Bagjan, he said.
If the production in the matured (old) reservoirs stopped even for a day, their longevity was affected making them older by 4 to 5 years as oil rig scrapping (cleaning) had to be done before starting operations again, the spokesman said.
Due to the blockade, OIL was unable to supply gas to the NEEPCO threatening to adversely affect the power situation in the state as turbines needed a certain amount of gas to generate power, he said.

As against its normal supply of 1.65 million standard cubic metre of gas daily to NEEPCO, OIL could supply only .6 mscm gas today, he said.
The AASU was alleging that OIL had violated a bipartite agreement to recruit unskilled workers through the district employment exchange.