Blair summoned oil bosses to his office to "learn the lessons" of the crisis but company chiefs denied they had colluded with protesters.

Blair, speaking after farmers and truckers began lifting sieges of oil refineries and depots, again ruled out meeting their demand for an immediate reduction in Europe's highest fuel taxes. But he said he was willing to listen to their grievances.

"Governments should listen, but governments must also govern," the Labour Prime Minister said at his third news conference in less than 48 hours on the crisis that has left virtually all of the country's petrol stations dry.

It has been Blair's worst domestic crisis since taking office three years ago and analysts were waiting to see how his uncompromising stance might affect his previous double-digit lead in opinion polls.

An ICM research poll for the BBC taken on Tuesday said nearly four-fifths of people supported the protesters' action, although this fell to just 36 percent if essential services were adversely affected.

These services had indeed been affected in some areas, officials said. Hospitals cancelled some operations and some police vehicles ran out of fuel.

Swipe at Esso
Blair said the oil companies, some of whom stopped sending out tankers as soon as a few pickets appeared at their gates, also had lessons to learn.Blair took a swipe at Esso, Britain's biggest petrol retailer, for putting up prices by two pence ($0.284) per litre of unleaded just as it appeared the protesters who had been blocking oil depot gates were going home.

"I don't understand the Esso action. The (world) oil price has actually come down in the last few days," Blair said.

The Prime Minister said the price hike was "one of the reasons I want to see the chairmen of the major oil companies this afternoon to go through some of the lessons of this very carefully indeed."

Officials said that with fuel pumps dry it could take two or three weeks to get the country back to normal. The major oil companies said they hoped to restore supplies to at least 20 percent of sites over the next 48 hours.

Fuel price protesters claimed a moral victory, saying theyhad made the government listen. But Brynle Williams, spokesman for protesters at a Shell refinery at Stanlow, northwest England, said fresh protests were possible unless the government cut fuel taxes within 60 days.

This time-frame could give Blair a way of saving face, since his government's pre-budget review will be made in November, outlining changes that may be made in the budget next spring.