May 10 (Bloomberg) -- A fire extinguished at Ineos Group Holdings Plc's 200,000 barrel-a-day Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland may ``slightly'' delay the plant's recovery from a strike last month, according to a spokesman for its owner.

The refinery, which is situated on the Firth of Forth west of Edinburgh, was forced to shut down at the end of April because of a 48-hour strike. The company said on May 6 that it expected to be producing again at its normal pace by May 18.

``It is expected to extend the timing of the restart slightly,'' Richard Longden, a spokesman for Ineos Group Holdings Plc said in a telephone interview. ``It was a very small incident,'' and ``the fire was dealt with very quickly by our onsite emergency team,'' he said.

The fire started at 2:10 a.m. today when oil spilled onto piping at the plant in Stirlingshire, and was extinguished at about 5 a.m., the Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service said in an e-mailed statement.

More than 1,000 workers from the union Unite walked out from the refinery on April 27 in protest at changes to the company's pension plan. The strike ended on April 29.

Longden said he was unable to specify the location of the fire or give more details on the incident until the Ineos investigation provides more information. The Scotsman newspaper earlier reported the fire occurred in a part of the site where the hydrocracker was located. Hydrocrackers convert heavy hydrocarbons into lighter fuels such as high-octane gasoline.

Fuel Supplies

Ineos said on May 6 the refinery was operating at about a third of capacity, and should reach about 80 percent capacity by this weekend. It said previously it would take two to three weeks for the facility to attain full output after the strike.

The labor dispute cut fuel supplies to Scotland and northern England and forced Ineos to import more fuel. The stoppage forced BP Plc to close its Forties Pipeline System, which relies on steam and power supplies from the refinery. The pipeline pumps about 40 percent of the U.K.'s oil.

Grangemouth supplies about 95 percent of the fuel used in Scotland's central belt, including its capital, Edinburgh, and biggest city, Glasgow. The Grangemouth plant has refined oil for around 80 years and the last time the entire facility was completely shut down was during World War II, according to Ineos, which bought the plant from BP in 2005.

To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net; Camilla Hall in London at chall24@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 10, 2008 11:27 EDT