Striking US refinery union has new offer: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS. Striking union refinery workers received an offer from plant owners on a contract agreement this evening ahead of planned union weekend rallies and as executives maintained normal operations.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union said late today it would respond to an undisclosed offer from refinery negotiators tomorrow, the fifth day of work stoppages for union employees at 10 refining sites in the US Gulf coast, midcontinent and US west coast.

USW organizers earlier today called for supporters to rally at refinery gates and union halls on 7 February. The union also staged protests outside a LyondellBasell shareholder meeting in Houston, Texas, earlier this week.

Refiners continued to operate the facilities using contract workers and managers, and described little impact on operations with the exception of Tesoro's Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, California. Tesoro idled the refinery, which was already at reduced capacity during maintenance, earlier this week.

Marathon Petroleum's chief executive Gary Heminger said during an earnings call today the transition to non-union operations at its Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and Texas City, Texas, refineries was "a very clean turnover."

"We're well prepared, we were well trained, and, when you have these types of incidents, you have to be prepared," Heminger said. "We'll continue to see how this plays out."

Workers have given strike notifications at the 268,000 b/d LyondellBasell refinery in Houston, Texas; Marathon Petroleum's 475,000 b/d refinery in Texas City and 240,000 b/d refinery in Catlettsburg; Shell's 340,000 b/d joint venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas; ExxonMobil's 348,000 b/d refinery in Beaumont, Texas; and at Tesoro's 68,000 b/d Mandan, North Dakota, 120,000 b/d Anacortes, Washington, 260,000 b/d Carson, California, and 168,000 b/d Martinez refineries.