Total called for a quick solution to the bitter dispute at its Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire and blamed strikes and poor productivity by contractors’ workforces for delays and cost overruns of more than £100m.

The plea by the French oil group came on Monday night as more than 3,000 construction workers at at least nine petrochemical sites and power stations – including the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria – staged wildcat strikes in support of the Lindsey strikers.