Don't get fuelled up

28/04/08

Motorists urged to avoid panic buying following the strike at Scottish refinery yesterday.

The strike at Grangemouth - the third largest refinery in Britain- was caused by the Union and Ineos failing to come to an agreement over the company’s proposals to close the final-salary pension scheme to new staff.

Production stopped at Scotland’s only oil refinery at 6am yesterday morning and since then, there has been no sign of fuel shortages.

According to figures issued by Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, only five petrol stations out of a total 956 ran out of oil yesterday, and with Scotland receiving 65,000 tonnes of fuel from Sweden and the Netherlands, it is thought that fuel supplies will be maintained.

Tom Crotty, the chief executive of Ineos, has said that he expects the oil refinery to be up and running within days, but with the strike affecting over 70 oilfields and 80 companies, there are fears that a full recovery could take up to several weeks.

The two-day strike is due to end today and it has been estimated that the action will have cost the UK up to £50 million per day in lost revenue.