UK motorists urged not to hoard fuel

LONDON, England (AP) -- The British government on Saturday urged drivers not to hoard gasoline, saying there was plenty to go around despite a looming strike at a Scottish oil refinery that has raised fears of fuel rationing.

The 48-hour strike, set to begin Sunday at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland, is expected to disrupt energy supplies and hinder delivery of Britain's North Sea oil.

"There is plenty of petrol and diesel in Scotland to meet demand during this period of time," said the government's business secretary, John Hutton. "But of course there is going to be a challenge if people change the way that they consume fuel.

"There is every reason to believe that we will get through this period sensibly if people continue to buy fuel sensibly, too," Hutton told the British Broadcasting Corp.

Gas stations in and around Edinburgh were limiting gas purchases to £20 ($40; €25) per visit Saturday, and queues of cars formed beside some pumps. A number of stations ran out of gas and diesel by midmorning.

Some gas stations were charging £1.25 pounds Saturday for a liter of unleaded, up from about £1.08 pounds on Monday.

"This is profiteering by the garages and oil companies," said Edinburgh motorist Ian Bain, 44.

The government wants to avoid a repeat of scenes in 2000 when motorists were forced to line up at gas stations as truckers angry at heavily taxed fuel brought Britain to a standstill by blockading refineries.

Refinery owner Ineos shut down production at Grangemouth Friday ahead of the strike. That could force oil producer BP to shut its Forties Pipeline System, which delivers almost a third of Britain's North Sea oil production and is powered by electricity and steam from Grangemouth. BP said it would close the pipeline completely by 6 a.m. (0500GMT) Sunday.

The government says the strike could force more than 70 platforms in the North Sea to halt production, at a cost of £50 million pounds a day.

Grangemouth is the major oil supplier to Scotland and parts of northern England, and those areas were expected to feel the greatest impact from the strike.

"I think there will be some difficulties despite the assurances," said Pat Waters of the Automobile Association.

"People should accept that they will probably be rationed to an amount of petrol to conserve supplies."

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said BP was releasing extra stocks to help meet demand, and that fuel arriving by boat from European ports would also help fill the gap.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the strike was unnecessary and called for new negotiations between Ineos and the workers' union, Unite. Talks to avert a strike broke down earlier this week.

Grangemouth's 1,200 workers are due to strike over pension issues, one of a series of labor disputes to hit Britain as the global economy weakens.

A nationwide teachers' strike over pay issues shut about a third of schools across Britain on Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on public sector wage increases due to inflation fears. E-mail to a friend

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