MOSCOW (MRC) -- Locked-out workers at the Co-op Refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan blockaded the facility, halting the movement of workers and trucks, the union and owner said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Federated Cooperatives Ltd (FCL), which owns and operates the refinery, locked out 800 workers on Dec. 5 in a dispute over pensions, but has kept western Canada’s third-largest oil refinery operating with replacement workers and managers.
Unifor, which represents the workers, said that hundreds of union activists had surrounded the refinery, effectively shutting it down.
The lockout comes as western Canadian oil producers in Saskatchewan and Alberta struggle to move crude to U.S. refiners, their main market, due to congested pipelines.
FCL confirmed that blockades at the refinery’s entrances prevented people or trucks from passing in or out and said they violated a court injunction.
Brad DeLorey, a spokesman for FCL, said the actions were causing delays but the refinery remained fully operational.
The Co-op Refinery, which can process 135,000 barrels of oil per day, makes gasoline, propane and asphalt, among other products.
As MRC informed earlier, Canada-based thermoplastic piping systems manufacturer Ipex has completed its stock purchase of Silver-Line Plastics. Silver-Line Plastics is a U.S. manufacturer of plastic pipe products with production facilities in North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Florida. The goal of the acquisition, which was first announced in August, is to allow Ipex to increase its market position in the U.S. with an expanded product portfolio serving a broader client base.
As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products dropped by 3.2% in November 2019 month on month.
However, production of basic chemicals increased by 3.6% in the first eleven months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the largest increase in production volumes on an annualized basis accounted for mineral fertilizers and polymers in primary form. Last month, 255,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced versus 210,000 tonnes in October; by November, Russian producers had completed all their scheduled works. Thus, 2,721,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-November 2019, up by 0.3% year on year.
MRC