26th April 2008          

Press Release

For Immediate Publication

UK impact on fuel supplies of strike action at Grangemouth oil refinery, Scotland

Responding to media comments about the impact of the Grangemouth closure and the shut down of the North Sea Forties pipeline, Chris Hunt Director General of the UK Petroleum Industry Association commented:

“It is important to emphasise that so far as fuel supply is concerned, this is a problem largely affecting Scotland only. Although the shutdown of the Forties system will have a  significant impact upon crude oil production, refineries in England and Wales have more than adequate supplies of crude oil stocks to enable them to continue normal operations. Furthermore, they source crude oil from a variety of sources in addition to the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea."

He continued: "In Scotland, the problem is mainly one of distribution as substantially higher levels of demand than normal are causing stock outs at some filling stations.Every effort is being made to replenish filling stations but I urge motorists to maintain their normal pattern of re-fuelling."

He concluded" Imports are being arranged to cover the post strike period when the refinery is coming back on stream.

Ends

Enquires to: Nick Vandervell Tel. 0207 269 7604 or Chris Hunt, UKPIA Tel. 0207 269 7601

Notes to editors:

1. UKPIA represents the oil refining and marketing companies operating in the UK, which also own approximately 2,152 of the UK's 9,271 service stations. 
2. UKPIA members own and operate the nine crude processing oil refineries in the UK.
3. Grangemouth refinery, situated on the Firth of Forth, is part of the INEOS group and was previously owned by BP up until December 2005. The refinery has a capacity to process 10 million tonnes of crude oil per year.