Petroleum Development Oman workers protesting for higher wages and better working conditions are reported to have gone on strike, hampering oil and gas production according to the Times of Oman.
Around 400 protestors are said to have staged the protests the PDO headquarters in Mina Al Fahal and at various fields in the country. Oman a leading non-OPEC oil exporter produced around 863,000 bpd of petroleum liquids in 2010.
The company owns the massive oil and gas concession known as Block 6 which accounts for most of the country’s production. PDO pumps oil from some 4,000 wells in the concession area which spans most of the country, it is the biggest concession holder of all the producers in the Gulf state. About 80% of Oman’s economy depends on oil and gas revenues and fears are the strike could
“We want a revision of what we are paid so we can be at the same pay level as other GCC states. Oil company workers in the region get paid much more than us,” Mohammed Shikeli, a PDO staff, told the paper.
Said Al Harthy, another PDO staff protestor said: “We also want to be paid the same as our expatriate colleagues. It is not fair that Omanis are paid much less,”
According to the newspaper report, the protestors demand promotions, training, improvement of desert allowance and better retirement packages.
PDO protestors are said to have staged a sit-in outside their workplace at Marmul oil field, one of the country’s largest and at the major gas production and treatment site at Karn Al Alam.
