The president of the PTOA, Syed Habeen Ali, speaking to the Deccan Chronicle not long after he and his members rebuffed a call from India's Big Three oil firms to come to the negotiating table said, "We are sticking to our stand and going for strike from Sunday midnight."

The PTOA has made it clear that it would not negotiate with regional officials of the three companies. It wants high level talks with each Regional Manager of the three corporations. The Deccan believes that these talks would be conducted soon.

Sources from within the three companies have revealed to the daily that Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have "exigency plans to meet the petrol demands for a period of three to four days."