Demonstrations threaten fuel supply

Britain’s fuel supplies may be disrupted after workers at an Essex oil refinery threatened to demonstrate on Monday in an attempt to convince the government to save the plant.

The move comes after administrator PwC, which been handling the sale of the Coryton plant, indicated the difficulty of finding a potential buyer for the threatened refinery, putting approximately 900 jobs in jeopardy.

Russ Ball, regional representative for the Unite union, warned of possible impact to fuel supplies. He claimed that the refinery had been “played” by the PwC and vowed that they were “going to react now”.

Ball declined to comment on the exact nature of the demonstrations, but said they could impact fuel supply in the area and advised that the government step in to rescue the refinery so as to “protect fuel security”.

He also pointed out that four other refineries in Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium also owned by the bankrupted Petroplus were not forced into closure.