LONDON: Forties differentials held almost unchanged on Tuesday from the average seen late last week. Total bought two cargoes for loading in late April, helping offset some of the more aggressive offers in the daily window.
There were very few takers for a slew of offers, with diffs offered down at their lowest since early February and the first ship-to-ship transfers in four months.
Shell offered two cargoes for ship-to-ship transfer at Scapa Flow, which traders sometimes view as a sign of an over supplied market.
The two Aframaxes from which the STS transfers were offered were the NS Challenger, currently moored off the German port of Wilhelmshaven, and the Alfa Germania, off Rotterdam.
Forties diffs have fallen by more than 60 cents so far this month. Historically, March tends to be the weakest month, in which on average in the last 20 years, diffs have fallen by 32 cents in this month, compared with July, the month in which diffs see the largest rise of an average 46 cents.
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Norway's key industrial trade union broke off wage negotiations with employers, raising the risk of a large strike involving workers from oil services firm Aker Solutions AKSOL.OL, among numerous others.
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