UK refinery strike ends, Forties to reopen

LONDON - Workers at the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland returned to work on Tuesday after a two-day strike which disrupted fuel supplies and halved Britain's North Sea oil production.
The refinery reopened early on Tuesday and BP said oil flows through its North Sea Forties pipeline should resume later in the day but added it would take several days to return to normal output.
"The strike is finished. The guys are back in work", said Mark Lyon, a convenor at Grangemouth for the UNITE union.
He added there were no plans for more talks with the plant's owner Ineos over the dispute about pensions.
The government estimates the dispute has cost the offshore oil and gas sector over 50 million pounds ($99.17 million) in revenue.
The closure of the refinery, which produces about 10 percent of the UK's petrol, led to fuel shortages in Scotland as motorists rushed to fill their tanks and prompted emergency fuel shipments from Europe to top up local supplies.
BP said power and steam supplies from the refinery to the neighbouring Kinneil plant which processes Forties crude were restored on Tuesday, allowing the plant to restart.
The Forties pipeline carries an average 700,000 barrels a day of crude, about half of the UK's 1.5 million barrel daily output.
UK Business Minister John Hutton, who plans to visit Grangemouth on Tuesday, repeated the government's call for management and workers to return to arbitration to resolve the dispute.
"Now is the time for Unite and Ineos to get back to the negotiating table...This is where this dispute must end," Hutton said in a statement.
Ineos has said it could take up to three weeks to resume full production at the 200,000 barrel a day refinery, but the union has said full output could be restored within a week to 10 days.