LONDON: Forties differentials rose on Wednesday due to higher bidding from Vitol, although offers of cargoes from floating storage kept the gains in check.
Total again offered for sale Forties cargoes from the VLCC Orthis, which is anchored off the eastern English coast, without selling any of them.
There are at least two other VLCCs of Forties parked off the UK coast, according to Reuters shipping data.
Ekofisk was the lowest priced benchmark grade and so it sets the dated benchmark.
WINDOW SUMMARY
Forties: Vitol bid for a Forties loading on Aug. 15-17 at dated Brent plus 5 cents.
On Tuesday, it bought two cargoes from Shell at dated minus 45 cents, Shell said.
Total offered a cargo of Forties for loading Aug. 1-5 via STS at Scapa Flow from the Orthis at $1.25 below cash September BFOE, the same as an offer on Tuesday.
This was the lowest priced of three cargoes the company offered.
The offer was equal to about dated minus 25 cents and with the Vitol bid values Forties on average at dated minus 10 cents.
Brent: Shell sold to Eni a cargo loading on Aug. 7-9 at dated minus 30 cents, about 25 cents lower than the last price indication seen by Reuters.
Ekofisk: BP sold to Total a cargo loading on Aug. 4-6 at parity with dated Brent.
The August quality premium for Ekofisk is 41 cents, making Ekofisk the cheapest grade.
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