Enap Workers Start Strike at Chile’s Bio Bio Refinery
Workers at Empresa Nacional de Petroleo’s Bio Bio unit, the largest Chilean oil refinery, began a 24-hour strike today to protest layoffs.
Employees at the state-owned oil refiner, known as Enap, demand that the company postpone for one week a plan to fire 532 workers to discuss potential alternatives, the union said on its website. The refinery continued to operate normally, a company official who declined to be named citing internal policy, said in a telephone interview today.
Enap’s Bio Bio and Aconcagua units supply 80 percent of Chile’s fuel needs, according to the company website. Bio Bio, located in the port of Talcahuano, can process 116,000 barrels of oil a day and Aconcagua can refine 104,000 barrels.
Production at Bio Bio may be hindered by the strike later today, Jorge Matute, president of the workers union, said in an interview. Night-shift workers have maintained normal output at the refinery until now, he said. Workers at Aconcagua could go on strike next week, he said.
Enap, based in Santiago, continued to distribute fuel products today, the official said. The workers union may extend the strike to other units of the company next week, Matute said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Craze in Santiago at mcraze@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net
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