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THE Grangemouth oil crisis escalated dramatically last night after workers refused to unload a tanker carrying 120,000 tonnes of fuel destined for forecourts.Unions claimed the Astro Arcturus, berthed in the Forth, was attempting to break the strike and not, as agreed with refinery owner Ineos, delivering supplies to the emergency services.Although several tankers have unloaded in recent days, continued shipments from the Netherlands and Sweden are crucial to keeping Scotland moving in the weeks ahead.Last night, the Scottish Government revealed that seven more tankers, carrying a further 65,000 tonnes of fuel, were expected in the Firth of Forth this week, but union officials set a collision course by saying there was no agreement to unload them.The extra cost of shipping fuel across the North Sea is likely to be passed directly to motorists and could mean prices hit £1.50 a litre during the dispute, it was claimed last night.Meanwhile, the strike is set to cause serious economic damage if, as expected, the BP Forties pipeline is shut early this morning, cutting off £50m a day in oil company revenue and depriving the Treasury of £30m a day in tax.But despite the mounting crisis, motorists appeared to be holding their nerve yesterday as most garages reported they still had stocks of fuel and there was little sign of the panic buying seen towards the end of last week, despite fuel prices hitting £1.23p-a-litre for unleaded in Shetland. Some shortages were, however, reported yesterday in the north-west and north-east of Scotland. The political row over the dispute was also escalating last night. Prime Minister Gordon Brown came under pressure from political opponents to intervene, and was accused of failing to realise the seriousness of the crisis.The oil and gas industry has also urged the Government to intervene. Chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, Malcolm Webb, said: "We appeal to the Government to intervene urgently with Unite and Ineos to stop the industrial action at Grangemouth from spilling over and hitting offshore production. This is now affecting some 80 companies and their operations which are in no way connected to or involved in this dispute."The Grangemouth row centres on planned changes to pension plans for the plant's workforce and has led to staff beginning a 48-hour strike this morning. Last night, officials at Unite, the union representing the employees, said they could not rule out further action. Spokesman Pat Rafferty said: "We will evaluate the situation after the strike." The refusal to unload the Greek-registered Astro Arcturus came after the vessel docked at Hound Point near Grangemouth yesterday. Unite had agreed to allow a 'skeleton staff' on to the jetty where it was moored, but had not reached agreement with the company over unloading its cargo. As a result, the cargo was last night still on board.A spokesman said: "We have pleaded with them to provide the cover needed to offload those cargoes. There is an agreement for providing fuel for key workers and emergency services. The point is around offloading for other uses. We are bringing in as many (tankers] as we can from all over Europe."The new convoys may also face similar problems in offloading their shipments from Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Gothenburg. A union spokesman said that its members would not unload any vessels that docked at or near Grangemouth. He said: "Our members will make the jetties safe and that's it. We will unload only to supply island areas and emergency services." On an average day, Scotland consumes about 6,000 tonnes of diesel, so these additional imports represent nearly 10 days of normal supply, ministers said....To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah.....
