Fuel Tankers Arriving in Scotland As Refinery Strike Continues

Fuel tankers arriving in Scotland as refinery strike continues

LONDON, April 28 (Xinhua) — Extra fuel supplies continued to be shipped to Scotland on Monday as a strike at a major British refinery entered its second day.

The two-day walk-out over pensions by around 1,200 workers at Grangemouth Refinery, west of Edinburgh, began Sunday and has since pushed oil prices very close to 120 U.S. dollars per barrel.

Two out of seven fuel tankers heading to Grangemouth with extra fuel have arrived in Forth, Scotland. The tankers are expected to bring nearly 65,000 tons of fuel and the supplies could last about 10 days.

There were fears of fuel shortages, but only a handful of filling stations are reported to have run out, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

The Scottish government said that by midday on Saturday, only five of Scotland’s 956 filling stations were out of fuel, with 70 partly out of fuel. However, it warned that there could be problems at the beginning of the week as the filling stations waited to be replenished.

Alex Salmond, first minister of Scotland, has called for the two sides in the dispute to hold talks to resolve it as quickly as possible.

However, Ineos, the international chemical company which owns the refinery, and the UNITE union have yet to agree on fresh talks.

Production at the plant ceased on Friday ahead of the strike. The strike also forced British Petroleum (BP) to shut down the Forties Pipeline, which provides 30 percent of Britain’s daily oil output from the North Sea and cannot function without power and steam from Grangemouth.

Britain’s offshore energy industry body Oil and Gas UK estimates the pipeline closure will cost the country 50 million pounds (100 million dollars) per day in lost production.

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