UPDATE 1-Oilexco North Sea output may be cut due to strike

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CALGARY, Alberta, April 25 (Reuters) - Oilexco Inc (OIL.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday its North Sea production could be affected by a strike expected to start this weekend at a Scottish refinery that also supplies power to a key oil pipeline.

Calgary-based Oilexco said oil output at its Brenda/Nicol and Balmoral fields will have to be reduced if the Forties pipeline, operated by BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), is forced to shut down.

Its Balmoral floating production vessel currently ships 21,500 barrels a day through the pipeline system, it said.

BP said on Friday that it began shutting the 700,000 barrel a day pipeline, which supplies up to half the oil in the United Kingdom, before a strike planned for Sunday at the Ineos-operated Grangemouth refinery.

The Forties pipeline system ships crude from about 70 oil fields in the North Sea.

The labor dispute has sparked fears of fuel shortages in Scotland and northern England.

Oilexco said BP has informed oil producers that it would take 48 hours to restart the pipeline after the end of a strike.

The company's shares were up 28 Canadian cents at C$14.71 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

($1=$1.02 Canadian) (Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; Editing by Peter Galloway)