Possible UK Refinery Strike
April 21st, 2008Just in case UK readers aren’t already keeping an eye on this…
Via: Bloomberg:
U.K. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks warned of “serious consequences” for Britain if a threatened strike at Scotland’s only oil refinery halts production by the end of the week.
“The last thing the public wants is fuel shortages,” with prices at record highs, Wicks said by telephone today from Rome, where he’s attending the International Energy Forum.
The minister spoke after Ineos Group Holdings Plc, owner of the Grangemouth refinery, said Scotland may suffer fuel cuts as early as April 25 because of a walkout by members of the Unite trade union over plans to change the company’s pension program.
“This is an industrial dispute about pensions between the union and the company,” Wicks said. “It is a matter for those two parties to resolve as soon as possible. There is nothing directly government can do.”
Ineos has started shutting the 200,000-barrel-a-day refinery, Britain’s sixth-largest, before the scheduled April 27-28 stoppage for safety reasons, the company said today in a statement. Output may be cut for as long as a month because of the time required to restart units, Unite said April 18.
The strike may cause “fuel chaos” for “weeks on end,” Tom Crotty, the plant’s chief executive officer, said in today’s statement.
