London - The industrial dispute that has shut down Britain's third-largest oil refinery and an adjacent oil pipeline showed no sign of easing Monday as 65,000 tons of fuel were shipped in from European ports to prevent possible shortages. As around 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery, north-west of Edinburgh, staged a second day of stoppages over a pension row, efforts were under way to arrange a meeting later Monday between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scotland's regional government leader, Alex Salmond.
The strike, which has forced the closure of a major BP oil pipeline, is estimated to cost up to 50 million pounds (100 million dollars) daily in lost production.
The 48-hour stoppage is due to end early Tuesday.
Leaders of the Unite trade union, which called the strike over plans by the operating company's to close its final salary pension scheme, indicated Monday that they were prepared for further negotiations if the August 1 deadline for the changes in the pension system was lifted.
"The difference between us is that the employer insists that the date is cast in stone," said Unite chairman Phil McNulty. If that deadline was removed, the union would sit down and negotiate.
However, Gordon Grant, general manager of Ineos, the private operating company, told the BBC: "We will not move the date. We cannot be held to ransom on this."
The Forties pipeline, one of the main pipelines in Britain's North Sea oil production, transports 700,000 barrels of oil a day and accounts for 30 per cent of Britain's daily output.
Two fuel tankers have already been unloaded at the refinery, with a further seven shipments expected over the next few days, including from the Netherlands and Sweden.
Ineos have said it will take up to 10 days to make the refinery fully operational again.
There had been fears of fuel shortages, but no panic buying has set in and the government has assured the population that fuel will not run out.
Meanwhile, the industry association Oil and Gas UK Monday again called on the government to intervene to bring the two parties together and get the Forties pipeline operational again.
"The government is the biggest single loser in all of this. Over 1 million pounds an hour is being lost in tax while the pipeline is down," chief executive Malcolm Webb said Monday.
A Downing Street spokesman said the meeting between Brown and Salmond was expected to take place in London later Monday.
