Oil production in Assam is being affected because of frequent bandhs, road blockades and activities of the militant groups. As a result, the State is losing huge amounts of revenue.

According to Oil industry insiders as drilling sites are usually located in remote and isolated places, security of the personnel engaged in crude oil production has also become a matter of concern and there have been instances of attacks on vehicles of the oil companies by miscreants, particularly during the bandhs and road blockades.

Sources revealed that during the financial year 2006-07, Oil India Limited (OIL) suffered loss of crude oil production to the tune of 4,000-4,500 KL per quarter on an average because of bandhs and activities of the militants. However, this year the figure will definitely go up as in the three weeks of the months of November and December when the State was facing a series of bandhs, the OIL suffered loss of crude oil production to the tune of around 16,000 kilolitres.

Sources pointed out that as a majority of the drilling sites are located in remote areas, movement of personnel engaged in crude production is severely restricted whenever a bandh is called and very often vehicles carrying OIL personnel are attacked on the way. “We cannot put our men at risk during bandhs and agitations.”

Sources said that the bandhs and road blockades seriously affect the movement of oil tankers, which is another major problem for the oil companies. Restriction in movement of oil tankers result in storage problems of not only the finished products but also of the crude oil and there have been instances when production in the drilling sites had to be stopped because of bandhs as the oil companies could not transport crude from the drilling sites, which do not have adequate storage facilities to keep huge stock.

Oil sources further said that almost all the sophisticated equipment and machinery used by the oil companies regularly are to be brought into Assam from outside and the frequent bandhs seriously restricted movement of such equipment to the oil fields of the State. Most of the sophisticated equipment used by the oil companies has to be imported and those are cleared in Kolkata port, from where those are brought into Assam by road. But as almost every part of Assam faces a bandh or a road blockade frequently, the movement of equipment by road to the oil fields of upper Assam takes a long time, which also affects the production to a great extent.

Oil industry sources are of the view that the organisations giving calls for such bandhs should realise the fact that their agitations not only affected the functioning of the oil companies, but is also harming the State, which is losing revenue because of loss of production of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, oil installations in Assam, particularly the pipelines have always been the happy hunting ground of militant groups as it is not possible to keep close watch on every inch of the pipelines. Of course, security of the oil installations are always intensified during Independence and Republic Day celebrations, when the militant groups try to target the same to make their presence felt, but it is virtually impossible to guard the pipelines throughout the year and in recent years, several major blasts took place in the pipelines of the oil companies. To deal with the problem, the State Government, in consultation with the oil companies operating in Assam, has mooted raising of a oil security force to deal exclusively with the threat posed to the oil installations by the militant groups and other anti-social elements. Official sources said that as per the initial proposal, the cost of maintaining the force would be shared by the oil companies. However, the modalities for raising the force are yet to be finalised, sources added.

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