BANGALORE: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Tuesday stated that ongoing strike by the Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners Association has affected bulk LPG supplies to upcountry LPG bottling plants of all oil companies including IOC, BPCL and HPCL in the southern states. The strike started on February 29.
N Srikumar, Executive Director, CC, IOC, in a press release, lashed out at the transporters for making “unreasonable” demands. Explaining the Oil Marketing Companies’ (OMCs) side of the standoff, the release stated that a tender was floated by the OMCs on October 31, 2011, in which it was found that the contractors had quoted rates which were 78 pc higher. “Also, numbers of trucks offered were as high as 28 per cent in case of IOC,” it said.
Srikumar also said that in spite of offering rates agreed to by contractors of Eastern Region, where talks concluded successfully, the rates were rejected by the Southern transporters. Stressing that the OMCs have a well-established system, Srikumar said that the contracts have an in-built clause that compensates the transporters for any escalation in diesel price, which forms a major component of the operations cost.IOC officials had earlier stated that since their supplies reach the city by rail, and would not be affected by the strike.