LONDON: North Sea Forties crude price differentials rose on Thursday as the focus shifted to March-loading cargoes rather than lingering February shipments.
Demand for Forties is still relatively soft, keeping differentials at a discount to dated Brent, while light, sweet North Sea grades are more strongly supported.
North Sea supply looks ample in March, loading programmes show. Output from 12 of the main crude streams is set to average 1.865 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, down 1.4 percent from February.
Offsetting this, refinery margins in Europe are well above the annual average according to Reuters models, which should lend some support to demand.
FORTIES
Chevron sold to BP a Forties loading on March 5-7 at dated Brent minus 45 cents. That was up from a deal on Wednesday at dated minus 80 cents for a February cargo.
Other sellers offered March-loading cargoes, without tempting buyers.
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