By Alexander Winning
LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Forties oil flows, which underpinthe global benchmark Brent, will soon cease to be dependent onthe UK's troubled Grangemouth refinery as a new power source tokeep the oil flowing will come online, a British governmentsource said on Thursday.
Swiss-based petrochemical company Ineos haltedproduction last week at the 210,000 barrel-per-day Grangemouthrefinery due to a labour dispute with the Unite union,threatening to disrupt oil flows through the Forties PipelineSystem.
Steam generated by Grangemouth during the refining processis vital to the Kinneil oil stabilisation and gas separationplant, where Forties comes ashore.
"There is a project in place which will replace the steamsource [for Kinneil]," the source said.
The steam will come from a power station owned by Finnishutility Fortum, also in the Scottish town ofGrangemouth, the source said, without disclosing who was payingfor the project.
The Grangemouth refinery, part-owned by Chinese oil giantPetroChina, has continued to power Kinneilthroughout the week-long shutdown, the source said.
Forties is the largest of the four North Sea crude oils thatunderpin the Brent crude benchmark, used to price abouttwo-thirds of the world's oil.
The source said the new pipeline to supply the BP-owned Kinneil plant with steam was "pretty much built".
BP (BP.)
