North Sea Brent crude cargoes for loading in May and June have been delayed due to the shutdown at the UK's Sullom Voe oil terminal, trade sources said on Friday, slowing supply of the crude which helps underpin a global pricing benchmark. The Brent stream was originally scheduled to load almost 100,000 barrels per day of crude in May and is usually the smallest of five crude grades that underpin the Brent benchmark, which is used to set prices worldwide.
Enquest, Sullom Voe's operator, said on Thursday it spotted a "minor defect" during a routine inspection and shut the Brent and Ninian crude pipelines which bring crude to the terminal from North Sea fields. All of the four 600,000-barrel Brent cargoes originally planned to load in June have had their loading dates delayed by at least four to five days, a trade source said. In addition, oil trading sources said on Thursday one of the five Brent cargoes due to load in May had been dropped from the loading schedule and another was delayed into June.
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