LONDON: North Sea Forties crude differentials slipped on Monday as a prompt cargo traded in the window as a ship-to-ship transfer, whilst traders said October supplies looked ample given the upcoming refinery maintenance season.
Cargoes have been offered as ship-to-ship transfers several times over the summer and are a sign of weak demand.
The trend has occurred alongside the buying of crude to put into storage, with analysts at Energy Aspects estimating that some 50 million barrels are now in floating storage.
Traders said the market looked well-supplied for October, especially with European refiners heading into autumn maintenance.
"In Europe, and particularly the Mediterranean, there have been signs of refinery buying slowing," one market participant said.
More loading delays emerged, with traders saying two September Ekofisk cargoes had been pushed back into October.
This has boosted October Ekofisk loadings to around 310,000 barrels per day (bpd), with a total of 16 cargoes.
One September Oseberg cargo has also been deferred into October, trade sources said, boosting the total to seven. Oseberg will now load 4.2 million barrels or 135,500 bpd.
September's Oseberg volumes are down at 3.6 million barrels or 120,000 bpd.
The VLCC Seeb is still at anchor off the Firth of Forth, waiting for maintenance on Hound Point's Jetty 1 to finish so that it can load its Forties cargo. Traders said it looked as if Vitol's fixture to South Korea would still go ahead despite this delay.
FORTIES:
Vitol sold its Forties cargo offered as a ship-to-ship transfer at Scapa Flow on the Alfa Britannia. The cargo was taken up by Trafigura at dated Brent minus 65 cents for Sept. 18-22 loading.
This was down from a deal last Wednesday at dated Brent minus 30 cents for Sept. 18-20 Forties.
Total bid for Forties loading on Sept. 29-Oct. 1 or Oct. 3-5 at dated Brent minus 35 cents, under terms where one bid cancels out the other if it is taken up.
This was weaker than Total's last bid on Friday for Sept. 19-23 Forties, which came at dated Brent minus 25 cents.
EKOFISK:
Trafigura bid for Ekofisk loading around Sept. 19-Oct. 3, at parity with dated Brent. This was down from its last bid on Friday for Sept. 19-28 Ekofisk at dated Brent plus 5 cents.
The quality premium for September-loading Ekofisk is zero, so Forties was the cheapest benchmark grade and sets the price of dated Brent.
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