By Cassie Werber
LONDON--The amount of crude oil due to be pumped from North Sea
fields will rise by 10% in June from the previous month, as the
Oseberg field emerges from maintenance.
Oseberg was due to account for only two 600,000-barrel cargoes
in May, according to loading programs, because of field
maintenance. In June, however, seven cargoes are due to load.
All the other fields that make up the BFOE basket of crudes will
have similar loadings to the previous month, according to
provisional loading programs seen by The Wall Street Journal.
There will be six Brent cargoes in June, the same as in May, and
17 Forties cargoes, the same as the previous month. There are due
to be 14 cargoes loaded at the Ekofisk field, down from 15.
June is also a shorter month than May, elevating the
barrels-per-day difference between the two months.
Loading programs are released and circulated among oil traders
and brokers, but don't give a perfect indication of oil volume
because they can be subject to change.
Brent crude is of international importance because it remains
one of the most liquid markets and influences oil prices across the
globe.
North Sea loading programs:
May 2014 June 2014
(barrels) Volume (B/D) (barrels) Volume (B/D)
Brent 3,600,000 116,129 3,600,000 120,000
Forties 10,200,000 329,032 10,200,000 340,000
Oseberg 1,200,000 38,710 4,200,000 140,000
Ekofisk 9,000,000 290,323 8,400,000 280,000
Total BFOE 24,000,000 774,194 26,400,000 880,000
Write to Cassie Werber at cassie.werber@wsj.com, Twitter:
@cassiewerber