New Delhi, Dec 16: The day-long strike called by workers of public sector oil companies to protest against the government’s move to privatise profit-making oil PSUs today evoked a mixed response with attendance reported to be thin at refineries of most oil companies.

Indian Oil Corporation’s Barauni and Guwahati refineries were reported to have been the worst hit. The Barauni refinery did not produce any fuel during the day and was put on ‘hot circulation’ mode so that it could resume operations tomorrow, senior company officials said.

Similarly, secondary units of the Guwahati refinery were out of operation and the officers were able to keep only two or three primary units running during the day.

However, supplies of petroleum products remained normal. The strike was meant to be a symbolic one to place on record the workers protest against privatisation. The oil companies had topped up all supply depots and retail filling stations before the strike.

Crude oil production of the upstream oil major ONGC also remained largely unaffected. The strike is reported to be successful in ONGC’s Calcutta office where workers did not report for work. However, this did not affect oil production.

Employees of Gail (India) Ltd did not participate in the strike as the the company has been excluded from the disinvestment process.