Climate protest closes road to UK oil refinery

LONDON Oct 16 (Reuters) - Climate change protesters blocked an access road to a major oil refinery east of London on Saturday in an attempt to stop tankers from leaving the site, organisers and police said.

Twelve protesters locked themselves to lorries parked on a road leading to the Coryton refinery in Essex, about 25 miles (40 km) east of the capital.

"The aim is to disrupt the flow of oil into London for the day," a spokeswoman for the protesters told Reuters.

Essex police said officers had closed the road and were monitoring the protest. No demonstrators had entered the refinery, a spokesman added.

Swiss-based oil refiner Petroplus Holdings AG operates the Coryton site, which can process 172,000 barrels of crude each day. No one at the company could immediately be reached for comment.

Demonstrators said they hoped 500 people would join the protest to raise awareness of how burning fossil fuels contributes to man-made global warming.

Protester Terri Orchard said the world must use cleaner sources of energy.

"We don't have a hope of tackling climate change if we don't find a way to start moving beyond oil," she said in a statement released by the protest's organisers. "This place, this whole industry, must become a thing of the past."

The demonstration was jointly organised by several direct action groups, including Camp for Climate Action, which has previously protested at London's Heathrow Airport and in the City of London financial district.

In France, walkouts at oil refineries in protest at plans to raise the retirement age have hit supply at two percent of petrol stations. (Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Janet Lawrence)