Strike 'could close key pipeline'

The strike at the Grangemouth oil refinery could close a pipeline that delivers 30 per cent of the UK's oil output.

BP's Forties Pipeline, which brings in 700,000 barrels of oil a day from the North Sea, is powered from the Grangemouth site, the company said.

The two-day strike is set to go ahead at the weekend after the Unite union and the owner Ineos failed to resolve a pensions dispute.

A BP spokesman said the key pipeline relies on electricity and steam that come out of the Grangemouth complex in Scotland.

The firm is examining what impact the strike would have on power supplies to the pipeline, which brings in oil from 40 different fields in the North Sea.

Business Secretary John Hutton sought to reassure motorists over the security of oil supplies, saying: "Fuel stocks at Grangemouth, together with planned imports of finished products through Grangemouth to replace lost production, should be sufficient to maintain supplies through the period of industrial action and the consequent re-starting of the plant."

The industry body UK Oil & Gas warned that some oil and gas production in the North Sea might have to shut down if essential utilities were stopped, at an estimated cost of £50 million a day.

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