A fuel station owned by Nilepet in Juba, South Sudan | Credit | Courtesy

The Nile Petroleum Corporation has called on striking national employees of Dar Petroleum Operating Company to end their strike.

National employees are striking over unpaid benefits and the implementation of a new human resource policy.

They are also demanding payment of benefits dating back to 2012, following an agreement between the Ministry of Petroleum and the joint operating companies.

They have been now on strike for more than two weeks.

The Dar Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC), is the consortium of China National Petroleum Corporation, South Sudan-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation, Malaysia’s PETRONAS, Sinopec, and Tri-Ocean Energy.

They mainly operate in the oil fields of Block 3 and 7 – in Upper Nile state.

The staff demand an agreed salary structure, allowances, loans, social insurance fund and personal income tax.

About 600 national staff are employed at DPOC.

In a statement on the 8th of April, NilePet called on the national staff to immediately call off the strike and resume work.

However, it was not clear if an agreement had been reached with the striking national employees.

Despite the disagreement with the petroleum ministry and joint operation companies, NilePet says it’s working with stakeholders to pursue a mutual resolution.

It further says both the ministry of petroleum and Nilepet acknowledge the mutual interest in implementing the new human resource manual for beneficial resolution.

According to the Secretary-General of the National Trade Union at DPOC, the unified human resources manual is a tool that will guarantee the rights of the workers and the companies are respected.

The Ministry of Petroleum produced the unified human resource manual in 2020 but was not signed by the oil-operating companies.