North Sea crude oil supply to rise in January

LONDON: Supply of the North Sea crude oil that underpins the Brent benchmark will increase slightly in January, according to Reuters calculations based on loading programmes provided by trade sources on Tuesday.

Brent is based on four crude streams: Brent itself, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk (BFOE).

They are scheduled to load an average 974,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, compared with the 929,000-bpd rate originally reported in December.

Supply of Forties, the largest of the four streams, will load 25 cargoes, which equates to 484,000 bpd, compared with the 445,000-bpd rate originally reported for December.

This will be the largest Forties programme since January 2011, according to Reuters data.