Oil India Limited (OIL) has urged the people of Assam to allow it to carry out day-to-day operations, which the PSU giant said has been severely hit by the ongoing protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.
In an appeal issued on Saturday, OIL stated that “total disruption of OIL’s operational activities will adversely impact the economy of the State and the lives of the common people”.
“Besides the loss of production of crude oil and natural gas, the stoppage of OIL’s operations has badly hit production of LPG and supply of crude oil to refineries,” the notification added.
OIL and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Sunday said their gas output have totally stopped while oil production has fallen by over 75 per cent after the protests began.
In the crude oil segment, OIL was producing 9,000 tonnes per day, which has fallen to 1000 tonnes after the protests began.
The company is operating only 50 wells out of around 400 wells producing oil and natural gas.
Crude supply to the Digboi refinery has gone down to nearly 8000 tonnes from 1800 tonnes of the daily plan and the same to the Numaligarh refinery has completely stopped.
“Anti CAA protesters have shut our oil collection and drilling of our wells has also been stopped fully. We have not been able to send gas to our clients like NEEPCO, Namrup Thermal, BCPL and Assam Gas Company,” an OIL official said.
“Filled LPG cylinders and tankers are lying in OIL terminals as vehicle transport has come to a halt and this has added a risk factor to the terminals,” he added.
Owing to the widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, 2019, the state (Assam) has been facing a shortage of fuel supply, affecting the daily lives of the people.
Curfew was clamped in Guwahati on Wednesday (December 11) after protests against the then Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB turned violent and a few vehicles were torched in the city.
The Lok Sabha passed CAB on Monday (December 9) and Rajya Sabha passed it on Wednesday (December 11).
President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday (December 12) gave his assent to the Bill, turning it into an Act.