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* BP's Dudley says independent Scotland would cause"uncertainties"
* Independence comments rare among top UK company heads
* Dudley says view his, not BP's
* UK's Osborne says comments show risks of independence
By Sarah Young and Andy Bruce
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The boss of BP, Britain'ssecond biggest oil company, warned on Tuesday that Scottishindependence could cause his company "uncertainties" and said hedid not want to see Scotland drifting away.
Bob Dudley's comments marked a rare foray into the debate onScottish independence among heads of major British companies,who have so far sidestepped the issue.
"We have a lot of people in Scotland. We have a lot ofinvestments in Scotland. My personal view is that Great Britainis great and it ought to stay together," the BP chief executive,who is American, told the BBC.
Uncertainty around currency issues could affect the companyand if Scotland became independent, it would mean additionalcosts for BP, Dudley told reporters later.
"It does not seem the right thing to me for the country(Scotland) to drift off. That's not a company view, that's fromme," he added.
Scottish government leader Alex Salmond is leading theindependence drive, arguing that Scots will be better off incharge of their own finances, which he sees benefiting fromScotland's majority share of the oil off the coast of Britain.
Salmond said Dudley was "entitled to his personal opinion"on Scottish independence.
"MASSIVE INVESTMENT"
"The main thing is that BP has got massive investmentplanned in Scottish waters, and rightly so, because they makelots of money from exploiting the national resources," Salmondtold BBC News.
"And of course, there are many, many chief executives whoare firmly in favour of Scottish independence."
But British finance minister George Osborne said Dudley'scomments were another sign that a currency union betweenScotland and the rest of the United Kingdom - comprisingEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland - would not work.
"That is a further example of the potential economic damageof independence and the cost to the people of Scotland ofindependence," he said of Dudley's remarks in comments to aparliamentary committee.
Osborne also said an independent Scotland would have to paya higher premium for its government debt than the Britishgovernment, adding that would be a consequence of a weakerindependent Scottish presence in international debt markets.
Salmond has proposed that Scotland form a currency unionwith Britain in the event of independence.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney last week offered hiseconomic analysis, raising the potential challenges of acurrency union if Scotland kept the pound.
BP, which reported weaker profits earlier on Tuesday,remains a big investor in Britain's North Sea waters, whereproduction peaked in 1999.
The company is one of the investors in the 4.5 billion pound($7.35 billion) Clair Ridge project, which is under developmentoff the coast of Scotland. On Tuesday Dudley called the Scottishoil town of Aberdeen "the heartland of the offshore oil and gasindustry".
