MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil and United Steelworkers said little progress was made in talks on Tuesday between company and union negotiators to end a nine-week lockout of 650 workers at a Beaumont, Texas refinery and lube oil plant, reported Reuters.
Exxon made counter offers to proposals offered by USW Local 12-243, which represents workers at the 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and adjoining lube oil plant, said Hoot Landry, USW International representative.
"They made five counters, one was moving in the right direction," Landry said.
Exxon spokesperson Sarah Nordin confirmed the meeting.
"The company's bargaining team met with the union today," Nordin said. "After discussion, both sides remain far apart. The company's current offer remains available for a vote by the membership."
As MRC informed earlier, Exxon locked out the workers on May 1, citing the risk of a strike. ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas refinery is operating at about 60% of its 369,024-bpd capacity as a lockout of union workers lasted ninth week in early July.
The USW has said the company’s last proposal requires its members to give up long-standing seniority and would create a separate contract for workers in the lube oil plant from that for workers in the refinery. Exxon has said the proposal would give it flexibility to be profitable in low-margin environments.
We remind that Gov. John Bel Edwards and ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery Manager David Oldreive have announced the company’s final investment decision for more than USD240 million in capital improvements at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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