Kuwait oil workers to go on strike from Sunday

Thousands of workers employed by Kuwait’s state-owned oil, gas and petrochemical firms are set to go on strike from Sunday, April 17, to protest a government plan that could potentially cut some benefits and wages, news agencies have reported, citing Saif al-Qahtani, head of the Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers Confederation.

"The union finds itself obliged to take the difficult decision to escalate with this announcement of a general strike in all sectors (of oil and gas) starting on Sunday, April 17 at 7 am,” al-Qahtani said during a press conference, without specifying how long the strike would last.

Companies likely to be impacted by the strike include, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KNPC), Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait Oil Tanker Co., Equate Petrochemical Industries Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company. In the event of a strike, some of KNPC’s oil facilities may be shut down temporarily, Khaled Al-Asousi, KNPC's Deputy CEO for Support Services was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The union’s decision was taken after it failed to reach an agreement after holding talks with the country’s acting oil minister Anas Al-Saleh and officials from state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC)

The strike also comes at a time when lower oil prices are shrinking Gulf oil producers’ profits.

Kuwait is expected to face a budget deficit of KWD 12.2 billion ($40.2bn) for 2016-2017, nearly 50 per cent higher than the previous fiscal year.

Write to Joumana Saad at joumana.saad@argaamplus.com