Kuwait oil workers' strike sees output plunge

KUWAIT CITY - Thousands of Kuwait's oil workers began an open-ended strike on Sunday to protest plans to cut their wages, action which saw the emirate's crude production plunge.

Kuwaiti oil workers arrive at their union headquarter in Al-Ahmadi, 35 km south of Kuwait city, on April 17, 2016, to protest against plans to cut their wages and privatise parts of the oil sector

A spokesman for the Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC) Saad al-Azemi said on Twitter that "average production reached 1.1 million" barrels in Kuwait on Sunday.

Daily production in Kuwait, OPEC's fourth largest producer, is normally around 3.0 million barrels per day.

Azemi also said natural gas production was at 620 million cubic feet, down from Kuwait's daily average of over 1.3 billion cubic feet.

The strike comes as world oil producers gather in Qatar to negotiate an output freeze to boost prices.

"Thousands of workers began their strike," the oil workers union chief Saif al-Qahtani told AFP, adding that production was partially halted without clarifying which sites had been affected.

"Observed since 7:00 am (0400 GMT), this open-ended strike will continue until the workers' demands are met," Qahtani said.

On Saturday, the union turned down an appeal from Kuwait's acting oil minister, Anas al-Saleh, to call off the strike.

Hit by the sharp drop in crude prices on world markets, Kuwait is introducing a new payroll scheme for all public employees and wants to include the country's 20,000 oil workers, which would mean an automatic cut in wages and incentives.

As the strike began, Kuwait Petroleum Corp spokesman Sheikh Talal Khaled al-Sabah said that the national oil conglomerate had activated an "emergency plan" to ensure that local and international markets were not affected by the walkout.

"Export operations are going ahead as planned and (KPC) is capable of responding to major international market demands, based on agreements with clients," he said in a statement published on the KUNA news site.

The plan ensures that all petrol stations will continue to be supplied as well as Kuwait's international airport and companies operating at the facility, he said.

He urged Kuwaitis "not to listen to rumours that the strike has affected the needs of the local market," adding that Kuwait's "reserves of gasoline and petrol derivatives is enough to meet the country's demands for 25 days and strategic reserves could suffice for 31 more days."

KPC had offered to suspend all spending cuts if the union agreed to join a committee to negotiate a settlement but said that workers had boycotted negotiations called for Thursday by the social affairs and labour ministry.

The union is also protesting plans to privatise parts of the oil sector.