Apr 29 2008
Oil price soars as a result of refinery strike
Scotland, Apr 29: Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and Prime Minister Gordon Brown have met to resolve the strike that had led to the closure of Grangemouth oil refinery. The meeting took place at the House of Commons and it lasted for about 20 minutes.
The 2 days long strike has disrupted the fuel supply and led to the halt of UK’s North Sea oil production. Mr Salmond assured that there will be no shortage of fuels in Scotland as a result of this closure.
Business Secretary John Hutton will visit the oil refinery on Tuesday, Finance and Business Minister John Swinney will also visit Grangemouth refinery. Earlier about 1,200 Unite union members walked out of the central Scotland Ineos plant on Sunday in a dispute over pensions. The founder of Ineos plant, Jim Ratcliffe was heckled by workers when he visited the site on Monday.
The Forties oil pipeline delivers about 30 per cent of the UK’s oil output from the North Sea was closed as a result of this issue. Oil prices reached a new high of about $120 a barrel.
As an attempt to tackle the issue of oil shortage 65,000 tonnes of fuel were imported, as Ineos oil refinery is considered as the main oil fuel supplier in Scotland. Even though the workers called off their strike on Tuesday morning it will take few days for the operation to get normal.
The employees and the company authorities held negotiations last week at the conciliation service Acas but it failed to bring any amicable settlement.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.