LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The boss of BP, Britain'ssecond-biggest oil company, warned on Tuesday an independentScotland could cause his company "uncertainties" and said he didnot want to see Scotland drifting away.
"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," chief executive BobDudley told the BBC.
Uncertainty around currency issues could impact the companyand, should Scotland become independent, it would result inadditional costs for BP, Dudley told reporters later, becomingone of the most senior business leaders to enter the secessiondebate.
"It does not seem the right thing to me for the country to drift off. That's not a company view, that's fromme," the American BP boss added.
Scottish government leader Alex Salmond is leading the drivefor Scotland to split from Britain in a Sept. 18 referendum,arguing that Scots will be better off in charge of their ownfinances which he sees benefiting from Scotland's majority shareof oil off the coast of Britain.
Salmond has proposed that Scotland form a currency unionwith Britain in the event of independence from London.
Alistair Darling, a Scot and a former British financeminister who is now chairman of the "Better Together" campaignwhich opposes a Scottish breakaway welcomed Dudley's remarks.
"Bob Dudley is quite right to express concern about theissue of currency. It is far from certain what currency we woulduse if we vote to leave the UK," he said in a statement.
However, the pro-independence "Yes Scotland" campaigndismissed Dudley's remarks.
"With independence, the continued use of sterling has theoverwhelming support of the people of Scotland and the public inthe rest of the UK," a spokesman told the BBC.
BP, which reported weaker profits earlier on Tuesday,remains a big investor in Britain's North Sea, where productionpeaked 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 and Dudley on Tuesday calledScotland's oil town of Aberdeen, "the heartland of the offshoreoil and gas industry".
BP (BP.)
