EDINBURGH A Scottish judge on Friday ordered six Greenpeace demonstrators to leave a U.S.-owned North Sea oil rig which they had boarded earlier in the day in protest at global warming.

It was the second such demonstration by the group since U.S. President George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Accord to tackle climate change.

A spokeswoman for British oil and gas producer BG Group, which operates the rig, said it had obtained a court order for the protestors to leave the rig at once.

Failure to do so would place the protestors in contempt of court and leave them facing possible unlimited fines and a jail sentence, the spokeswoman said.

Earlier, the six activists had attached a yellow survival pod to the underside of the operating platform of the Santa Fe 135 rig, which is drilling some 35 miles (55km) off the Scottish coast.

Activist Rob Gueterbock, on board the group's flagship vessel MV Greenpeace close by the rig, said the protestors were aware of the order and were pondering their next move.

"It is a scandal they (BG) are running to the courts. At some stage, they must stand up to the impact their work is having on global warming," Gueterbock told Reuters by telephone.

The latest action comes just five days after 21 demonstrators tried to prevent a semisubmersible moveable oil rig, chartered by U.S. oil firm Conoco Inc. from leaving the Cromarty Firth in northeast Scotland.

The protest ended on Monday after Conoco obtained legal authority to force them to leave.

Bush said last month it was more important to keep the U.S. economy on track than to stick to the Kyoto Pact, which seeks to limit the emission of greenhouse gases by industrial nations.

(Reuter)