Negotiations between contractors from Total SA's (TOT) 200,000 barrels-a-day U.K Lindsey oil refinery and unions will go ahead in London later Tuesday following protests at energy plants across the country over job cuts at the site.

Total SA (TOT) Tuesday said it is "actively encouraging" the talks over how to facilitate the return of contract workers to a construction project at Lindsey.

"These discussions between the unions and the contracting companies should focus on getting the project back up and running within the agreed timeframe and budget," Total said in a statement Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for conciliation agency ACAS confirmed, however, there will be no official joint talks taking place through them today.

Spokesman for the union Unite Ciaran Naidoo told Dow Jones Newswires there has been some progress in negotiations and a joint meeting would be held between the unions and representatives for the contractors from the trade association for the U.K engineering construction industry.

The negotiations will review a working practice agreement signed by both parties through the Engineering and Construction Industry Association.

"At the top of the agenda is obviously the reinstatement of the workers who have lost their jobs at Lindsey as soon as possible," Naidoo said.

Total said delays, under-performance and low productivity at the project have already cost in the region of an additional EUR100 million.

Friday, Total fired 647 contract workers at Lindsey following unofficial industrial action, and offered a deadline of Monday afternoon to contractors to reapply for their jobs. Total said it will be the end of the week before its contractors can say how many workers will return to work.

"There is no question of a reduction in pay or dilution of existing terms and conditions," it said in its statement Tuesday.

More than 2,000 workers extended unofficial strikes in sympathy with the Lindsey contractors Tuesday, although operations weren't affected at any of the sites where walkouts were reported.

Facilities affected by strikes Tuesday included: ConocoPhillips' (COP) 221,000-barrels-a-day Humber refinery, Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RDSB.LN) 240,000-barrels-a-day Stanlow refinery, RWE AG's (RWE.XE) Aberthaw and Didcot A power stations, the Dragon liquefied natural gas terminal in Wales, BP PLC's (BP) Saltend chemical plant, and Ensus Group's biofuel plant under construction on Teesside.

-By Angela Henshall, Dow Jones Newswires; (4420) 7842 9285; angela.henshall@dowjones.com (Lananh Nguyen and Reza Amanat contributed to this story.)