According to Reuters, the Forties pipeline supplies 40% of UK’s oil and gas. The pipeline, which brings in 700,000 barrels of oil per day from the North Sea, is powered from the Grangemouth site.
This move, likely to cost an estimated GBP50 million per day in lost production, is the result of a strike by 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery over a pensions row.
News.scotsman.com quoted a Scottish Government spokesperson as saying: One of the most important messages to give is that people should not change their normal fuel buying patterns. We urge the people of Scotland to be sensible and only to buy the fuel that they need.
BP maintained that, assuming it got power back as soon as the strike ended and Forties fields resumed production rapidly, the pipeline could be back in operation shortly. However, the pipeline might take some more days to get back to full flow.
