Operations at ConocoPhillips' Seal Sands terminal on Teesside in northeast England, which loads benchmark North Sea crude Ekofisk, may face disruptions if a strike goes ahead.
Workers for Hertel UK, which provides maintenance and repair services for the oil terminal at Seal Sands, are to ballot on industrial action from Friday May 20 until June 1, according to the Unite union and other sources.
Workers are unhappy at a pay proposal for 2016/2017 that offers no increase in wages, Unite said.
"We held a constructive meeting with Hertel's management team but despite some progress being made, it was made clear that Conoco would not fund a pay increase... Hertel has been told in no uncertain terms that the zero per cent pay offer currently on the table is not something our members are prepared to accept," Steve Cason, Unite's regional officer, said in a statement.
Operations at Phillips 66's nearby Humber refinery are not expected to be impacted, said a refinery source.
Teesside terminal is the loading port for North Sea crude grade Ekofisk, one of the four constituent grades of the Dated Brent benchmark and Cash BFOE forward contract.
Field maintenance is scheduled for Ekofisk in June. The impact of the proposed strike action on the scheduled maintenance and loadings in the month of June was unclear at the time of writing.
ConocoPhillips' Teesside terminal is a 1 million b/d crude oil reception, processing, storage and trans-shipment installation. The terminal also fractionates natural gas liquids into ethane, propane and butane.
Operations comprise both processing and tanker-loading facilities covering a 307-acre site at Seal Sands, at the mouth of the River Tees.
