LONDON: North Sea Forties crude differentials steadied on Monday, after an uptick in supply of oil through a major pipeline helped improve some tightness that has developed.
The flow of oil through the Forties Pipeline System has been restored to normal levels, after an outage late last week and through the weekend restricted the amount of crude carried, a spokeswoman for system operator BP said on Monday.
Lower-than-expected production prompted the deferral of two cargoes from the February loading programme into March, trade sources said on Thursday, and more cargoes are being delayed.
A March-loading cargo, numbered F0301 and originally owned by BP, has been delayed until later in March, trade sources said last week.
Reflecting the tightness in supply of oil for prompt delivery, the dated Brent curve is now showing its smallest contango since late January, as the premium for further-dated deliveries has almost halved to around $1.74 a barrel.
Three weeks ago, the curve was showing its largest contango in three months. In terms of flows of North Sea crude out of Europe, the VLCC Ellinis is now underway, heading towards South Korea after loading at Hound Point last week.
The supertanker Nave Electron, which had originally been booked by Vitol, is currently just outside Hound Point, while the Hakata is moored just off the French port of Antifer in the English Channel, according to Reuters shipping data.
So far this month, if all these fixtures result in a voyage, some 6 million barrels of Forties will move to Asia, in line with the flows seen in January.
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