Refinery walkout - safety fears

The plant produces three million gallons of petrol a day

A contracting firm at the giant Texaco oil refinery in west Wales has walked out over safety concerns.

The dispute comes weeks after two workers were treated in hospital after a fire broke out at the Pembroke site.

On Tueday plant officials met union representatives and asked the staff who had walked out to return to work.

A workforce of about 3,000 staff from about 30 contractor firms are involved in a planned shutdown operation for maintenance work at the site.

In a statement Texaco said: "We hope that the issue will be resolved shortly.

Second fire

"Health and safety remains our absolute priority for everyone at the site.

"We currently have on site representation from the Health and Safety Executive as part of a planned audit of the maintenance and upgrade project, who have been complementary regarding our control of work."

One of the two contractor firms involved in the dispute remained on site.

The fire at the Pembroke site on 5 September was the second at the plant this year.

Nobody was reported to be seriously injured by the blaze at the refinery's steam plant.

A specialist catalytic cracking unit - used for producing a range of petroleum products - was closed in March after a fire.

There was also a large fire at the plant in June 2001.

The refinery is one of the largest manufacturers of petrol in north west Europe, producing approximately three million gallons of petrol per day.