Gunvor, which could ship as much as 4 million barrels of Forties to Asia this month, bid for a cargo of Forties loading in mid-December, while Glencore, which is believed to own at least nine December cargoes of Forties, was offering crude at Scapa Flow from the Nave Neutrino.

Gunvor has chartered two VLCCs to take Forties to Asia in December, the Sara and the DHT Bauhinia, through its Clearlake shipping arm.

Demand for North Sea crude from Asia looks set to slow down next month from the record levels seen in November.

But with the ICE Brent futures curve tilting further into backwardation and the premium of Brent over US WTI narrowing to its smallest in almost three months, the front end of the dated Brent market should remain supported, one trading source said.