LONDON: North Sea Forties price differentials held at a steep discount to dated Brent on Friday as ample supplies in Europe kept the pressure on crude in the region.
Plentiful supplies in the Baltic and Mediterranean are increasing buyer choice and putting downward pressure on North Sea crude, say traders, while seasonal refinery maintenance is also cutting demand.
Trafigura has bought three Forties cargoes this week for early April loading but it offered one of them back to the market on Friday, without finding a buyer.
Traders have said Trafigura may be planning to load the cargoes into a VLCC for South Korea, but no concrete evidence of a shipment has emerged yet.
Production at the Forties Echo platform in the North Sea is back online, a spokesman for operator Apache North Sea said on Friday, after ramping up over the past three days.
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