HOUSTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The largest U.S. refinery strikesince 1980 entered its 12th day on Thursday with no talksscheduled between union and industry representatives until nextweek, and at least one refinery will remain out of productionfor the duration of the work stoppage.
Tesoro Corp Chief Financial Officer Steven Sterintold analysts during an earnings conference call on Thursdaythat production at the company's 166,000-barrel-per-day (bpd)refinery in Martinez, California, will remain shut down untilthe strike ends.
Two of Tesoro's California refineries and another inWashington are among nine refineries where workers are onstrike, affecting 13 percent of U.S. capacity. A chemical plantand power co-generation plant have also seen walkouts.
Tesoro is operating the Martinez refinery near San Franciscoas a terminal.
Tesoro Chief Executive Greg Goff said during the call thatit was too early to discuss hiring permanent replacements forthe striking workers.
No talks are scheduled between the United Steelworkers union(USW), which represents the striking workers, and Shell Oil Co,the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc that is the leadoil company negotiator.
Shell has said it needs time to fulfill an extensiveinformation request from the union.
"The lines of communication between the USW and Shell remainopen," Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said.
A union representative did not immediately reply to arequest for comment.
Since the talks started on Jan. 21, sticking points haveincluded the use of non-union contractors and how to monitorworker fatigue. Wage increases and health benefits are also onthe bargaining table.
The USW is seeking a three-year, industry-wide pact thatwould cover 30,000 workers at 63 U.S. refineries that togetheraccount for two-thirds of domestic capacity.
Over the weekend, walkouts widened to include BP Plc's Whiting, Indiana, refinery and its joint-venture refinerywith Husky Energy in Toledo, Ohio.
Companies have called on trained temporary replacementworkers to keep their plants running at nearly normal levels.
Refineries where the strikes are taking place have reportedmalfunctions since walkouts began on Feb. 1.
A 70,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluid catalytic crackingunit was shut earlier this week at Shell's 327,000-bpd refineryin the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Paul Simao)
BP (BP.)
