(Adds USW statement)
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc negotiators met on Monday with the union representing workers atU.S. refineries as a strike stretches into a third day aftertalks on a new national contract broke down.
A United Steelworkers spokeswoman said no progress was madetoward a new agreement after the two sides discussed the issues.
Walkouts called on Sunday at nine plants with a combined 10percent of U.S. refining capacity were the first since 1980 insupport of a nationwide pact that would cover 63 refineries.
Contract talks broke down on Sunday with workers asking forhigher wages against a backdrop of crude prices that haveplunged nearly 60 percent since June, prompting oil companies tocut spending.
"Representatives from Shell and the United Steelworkersunion (USW) resumed communications on Monday in hopes of comingto a mutually satisfactory contract agreement," said Shellspokesman Ray Fisher.
A USW spokeswoman said both sides met on Monday evening atShell's request.
"We had discussions on the issues however no progress wasmade," said USW spokeswoman Lynne Hancock. "We are still on calland willing to meet."
Most affected refineries were running almost as usual, withoperators having called on trained managers to replace workers.
But one of the affected plants, Tesoro Corp's 166,000 barrel-per-day Martinez, California, refinery, was beingfully shut down, since part of it was already in the midst ofplanned maintenance work.
While refiners are promising little or no disruption toproduction, wholesalers and other buyers are skittish andsnapping up available supplies.
U.S. gasoline and diesel fuel prices rose on Monday onconcerns over supply, as well as a bounce in U.S. benchmarkcrude to about $50 a barrel.
Gasoline futures traded in New York rose more than 5cents to $1.53 a gallon, though retail gasoline prices are stillat their cheapest in years after having fallen about 40 percentsince the middle of 2014.
The USW has said Shell, the lead industry negotiator, haltednegotiations early Sunday after the union rejected a fifthproposal from the company.
Shell activated a strike contingency plan at itsjoint-venture refinery and chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas,to maintain operations.
Tesoro said management was operating its refinery in Carson,California, and its plant in Anacortes, Washington.
The USW also called strikes at three plants belonging toMarathon Petroleum Corp in Texas and Kentucky, andLyondellBasell Industries NV's plant near Houston. Atleast two of the plants on the list have a history of deadlyaccidents.
The USW said all other refineries it represents wouldoperate under rolling 24-hour contract extensions.
The expiring three-year national contract covers about30,000 hourly workers at plants that together account fortwo-thirds of U.S. refining capacity.
The union is seeking annual pay increases of 6 percent,double the size of those in the last agreement. It also wantswork that has been given in the past to non-union contractors tostart going to USW members, a tighter policy to preventworkplace fatigue and reductions in members' out-of-pocketpayments for healthcare.
Independent refiners, such as Valero Energy Corp, have made big profits recently by tapping cheap crudes from theU.S. shale boom, while refining units at integrated companiessuch as Exxon Mobil Corp have provided a cushion againstlow prices hurting upstream operations.
But the drop in oil prices from more than $100 per barrellast summer has hurt the union's hand, analysts said. (Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Writing by TerryWade; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Alden Bentley, Steve Orlofsky,Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker)
