'Oil sector crisis to improve by Monday'

The oil sector crisis is expected to improve over the weekend as some striking officers have started returning to work, a senior industry official said here Friday.

“The situation is coming back to normal and things will improve over the weekend. Normalcy in supplies should happen by Monday,” Indian Oil Corp (IOC) chairman Sarthak Behuria said at a press conference.

“Some officials in south India are already back,” he added.

The Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), which represents about 45,000 employees across 14 state-owned energy firms, went on strike from Jan 7 morning, demanding higher wages.

According to the association, the government's claim that the pay revision for the oil sector employees was between 55 percent to 139 percent was false, and that the hike was only 17 percent.