Motorists were this morning warned not to panic buy at the pumps on the eve of a planned strike at one of Britain’s biggest oil refineries.

A major North Sea oil line is expected to be shut down later today ahead of the two-day industrial action at Grangemouth refinery, near Edinburgh.

Some 1,200 workers at the plant that supplies Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, are expected to walk out in a row over pensions with owners Ineos, starting tomorrow.

The Forties pipeline, which carries 30% of Britain’s crude oil output, will be shut down by fuel-giant BP today.

Production at the refinery ended yesterday ahead of the strike action and it is expected to take several days before it will be running again at full capacity.

The Government has appealed to drivers to stay calm, but petrol stations have already reported shortages in Scotland and fears are growing that this could spread south.

Business Secretary John Hutton today admitted a national emergency plan, drawn up after the blockades of the 2000 petrol crisis, could be put in to action, but only if fuel supplies dipped dramatically in the coming week.

He advised drivers to continue to buy ‘sensibly’ to avert the threat of shortages.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: “There is plenty of petrol and diesel in Scotland to meet demand during this period of time. 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 said. “In a situation where there is plenty of fuel, there is no justification for implementing those draconian rationing powers.”

Workers at the plant, Scotland’s biggest and the third largest in Britain, are expected to walk out tomorrow morning.

Despite the Government’s pledge that the action will not cause a nationwide crisis, Pat Watter’s from the AA said: “People should accept that they will probably be rationed to an amount of petrol to conserve supplies.

“I think there will be some difficulties despite the assurances. We have estimated that if everyone in Scotland filled their tanks up that could be around 70 million litres of fuel.

“It would be far better to have that in vehicles that really need it than those that don’t. People should not be buying petrol in case they might need it, they should stick to their normal habits.”

The closure of Grangemouth, the first in peacetime in its 80 year history, is expected to cost £50m a day in lost production.

Yesterday, hundreds of workers gathered at the refinery to be addressed by union leader Tony Woodley, from Unite.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was no need for the action and called on the two sides to talk, but Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, said he was “certain” the strike would go ahead.

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