(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-27 16:55

LONDON -- Oil giant BP PLC on Sunday was closing a pipeline system responsible for delivering almost a third of Britain's North Sea oil production.

Workers leave the INEOS refinery as they start the two-day walkout by up to 1,200 workers at the site in protest at plans to close a final pension salary scheme to new workers, which has closed the Forties pipeline, which brings in 700,000 barrels of oil a day from the North Sea, in Grangemouth, Scotland, Sunday April. 27, 2008. [Agencies]

The closure of the Forties Pipeline System was prompted by a two-day strike that began Sunday morning at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland. Refinery owner Ineos has already stopped production at the facility, which provides electricity and steam to the pipeline.

The pipeline was supposed to be completely shut down by 1 am EDT Sunday. A British energy industry group said the closure could cost $99 million a day.

Oil & Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb demanded the government intervene "to ensure that the country is not held to ransom in this manner," adding that the strike "is now affecting some 80 companies and their operations, which are in no way connected to or involved in this dispute."

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. The shutdown has also raised fears of gas shortages in those areas, which rely on the system for their fuel.

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