LONDON: North Sea Forties crude differentials edged higher on Wednesday, boosted by the prospect of a pick-up in flows of oil to Asia, which helped to narrow the contango.
Based on Reuters calculations there are at least 9 million barrels of North Sea crude being stored on ships off the UK coast at the moment, as soft demand has led to a build-up since the summer.
In the daily window offers outnumbered bids by two to one and higher offers were withdrawn without finding any buyers.
But the contango in the swaps curve narrowed a touch from this week's five-month highs, suggesting a touch more optimism over future demand for North Sea crude.
Three VLCCs are scheduled to load Forties in the first two weeks of December to sail to South Korea, according to Reuters shipping data. Mercuria has chartered the Atromitos to load at Hound Point from Dec. 5, the second supertanker it has booked to sail to Asia next month, after having chartered the Argenta to load from Dec. 4, bound for China.
Statoil has booked the Bunga Kasturi Lima, a VLCC, to load a Norwegian crude at Mongstad, also bound for South Korea.
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