(AFP) – Apr 22, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Talks began Tuesday in London to avert a planned strike at one of Britain's key oil refineries which threatens to disrupt fuel supplies across Scotland and northern England.

Officials from the Unite trade union sat down with bosses from Ineos, which owns the Grangemouth refinery between Glasgow and Edinburgh, for discussions over the industrial action planned for Sunday and Monday.

The talks were held at the London offices of conciliation service Acas. Up to 1,200 workers are prepared to strike over plans by Ineos to scrap the company's final salary pension scheme for new workers, among other changes.

It would be the first walkout at any British refinery for 73 years, the BBC reported.

Ineos has started shutting down Grangemouth, which produces 210,000 barrels of oil a day, and warned of fuel shortages from Friday if the strike goes ahead.

The firm said it had made concessions to Unite.

"The proposed new scheme for existing workers will continue to be amongst the most generous in the country," said chief executive Tom Crotty.

However, Unite officials said it contained nothing new.

Britain's Business Secretary John Hutton said the government had contingency plans to deal with the planned strike and would try to minimise disruption.

A Grangemouth shutdown would impact upon on the North Sea oil and gas rigs, said Professor Alex Kemp of Aberdeen University.

"If the whole complex is closed down for some time then there's bound to be a knock-on effect on North Sea oil and gas production because the Forties Pipeline has to come in there," he told the BBC.

The pipeline carries about 40 percent of Britain's oil to the shore.

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