The oil and gas workers' trade union has posted a statement on Twitter calling off the action by thousands of staff. The three-day strike saw Kuwait's crude production cut by more than half.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Qutena
Advertisement
"In honor of his highness the Emir (of Kuwait) ... we have decided the following. First, the cancellation of the general strike and the attendance of all oil sector workers at their places of work beginning at seven in the morning on Wednesday 20 April 2016," the Oil and Petrochemicals Industries Workers' Confederation wrote on Tuesday evening.
The union further pledged "to make every effort to immediately return production to its previous level," after output fell by more than 50 percent to 1.1 million barrels per day when the walk-out began on Sunday.
The reversal followed an earlier vow by the union that the strike would continue until its demands were met, after oil production recovered on Tuesday to 1.5 million barrels per day.
'No negotiation'
The call for Kuwaiti nationals to return to work followed a refusal by the country's oil minister to negotiate with unions until they stopped their action. Non-Kuwaiti oil workers were not on strike.
Kuwait produces 10 percent of the world's oilImage: Getty Images/J. Raedle
"We cannot sit down at the negotiating table with the unions during a strike. We will achieve the impossible to continue to operate the oil sector despite the strike," acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh told Kuwaiti TV channel al-Rai.
Thousands of people took part in the walk-out over plans for oil and gas industry reforms, which would see salaries and benefits cut and staff laid off.
The global oil industry is smarting from a dramatic fall in the price of oil over the past 18 months, which has led to tens of thousands of job losses.
On Sunday, the cabinet gave orders for the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) to recruit contractors from abroad to operate some of its facilities in defiance of the strike.
Besides the fall in crude production, refining also fell 40 percent to 520,000 barrels per day and natural gas output dropped by half to 620 million cubic feet (17.6 million cubic meters).
Hit hard by sinking oil prices
Prices for crude oil are reaching new lows almost daily due to oversupply and unease over the global economy. Some countries have been hit harder than others.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Hong
A great, big hangover
Even Norway isn't immune to the falling price of oil. For years, the wealthy Scandinavian nation had fueled its rapid growth with the oil it pumped out of the North Sea. But what once transformed a poor agrarian state into one of the richest countries in the world now has policymakers wondering if it wouldn't be wiser to allocate more resources to Norway's fishing industry.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Hagen
Double trouble
For Russia, the falling price of oil has added insult to injury as its economy is already reeling under Western sanctions. In 2015, economic output in the country shrunk by around 4 percent. As a result, salaries have dropped and the ruble has lost half of its value against the dollar. The news service Bloomberg estimates that 2016 will be another recessionary year for Russia.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Druzhinin
An uncertain future
Nigeria is Africa's largest producer of oil. Before being elected president, Muhammadu Buhari announced that he would increase government spending - but the drop in the price of oil may make that promise impossible to fulfill. The World Bank estimates that three-quarters of the Nigerian state's revenues come from the oil business. Many infrastructure projects are currently on hold.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
New realities
Nigeria's not the only country that calculates its budget based on the price of oil staying high. The result has been a big gap between expected and actual revenues. The price for a barrel of oil has dropped by nearly 75 percent since mid-2014. Many experts currently have little reason to believe the per-barrel price will return to its old level of $120 (110.76 euros) anytime soon.
After sanctions
Now that sanctions against Iranian exporters have been lifted, the Islamic Republic plans to ramp up its oil production by half a million barrels a day - putting further pressure on an already oversupplied energy market. Iran, for its part, blames its archrival Saudi Arabia for falling oil prices.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Taherkenareh
Less giving, more taking
Saudi Arabia has refused to curb oil output in order to protect its market share from competition from the US fracking industry and Iran. But now, even the world's largest oil exporter is starting to get a taste of its own medicine. The International Monetary Fund is warning about a massive impending budget deficit. The Saudis want to introduce taxes and slash energy and food subsidies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Grimm
How long will reserves last?
Like their Saudi counterparts, other oil-rich Gulf statessuch as Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are also watching their energy reserves dwindle. These regional powers all boast large sovereign wealth funds - but altogether, the six Gulf states have already accumulated a budget deficit worth $260 billion (239.8 billion euros), according to estimates by JP Morgan Chase.
Image: M. Naamani//AFP/Getty Images
Winds of change in Venezuela?
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. For years, the country's socialist government used revenues from the sale of oil to fund its lavish social programs. Now, President Nicolas Maduro has declared a state of emergency for the Venezuelan economy. Popular support for the successor to Hugo Chavez has been slipping for about a year - about as quickly as the price of oil has dropped.
Image: Reuters
What now?
Thanks to a boost in shale gas extraction, aka fracking, the US is now the world's largest energy producer. Low oil prices, however, have made fracking widely unprofitable. The US is also one of the largest consumers of energy in the world. While motorists may celebrate having to spend less money at the pump, bigger, gas-guzzling vehicles are gaining in popularity - bad news for the environment.
