By Cassie Werber
LONDON--The amount of crude oil to be pumped from fields in the
North Sea in January will be lower than in December, according to
loading programs for the four key grades.
The biggest fall will be in the Brent grade, where only five
cargoes of crude will be loaded, compared with seven scheduled to
load in December. Loading programs are released and circulated
among oil traders and brokers, but don't give a perfect indication
of oil volumes because they can be subject to change.
The total month-on-month fall will be 3.9%, according to the
programs.
These changes are often seasonal, and can alter dramatically if
one of the four key fields -- Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk
-- have scheduled maintenance work or need to be shut in for
emergency reasons.
Overall, however, production in the North Sea is in decline. To
date, 41 billion barrels of oil and gas have been produced from the
U.K. continental shelf, but less than half of that figure remains,
according to a government report published in November.
In January 2014, the other field to produce less oil will be
Oseberg, where only seven tankers will be loaded rather than the
eight in December. A standard tanker is very large, able to carry
600,000 barrels of oil, so even one less tanker constitutes a
substantial difference.
The Forties field will load 21 tankers, one more than in
December, while Ekofisk will load the same 16 tankers as in the
previous month.
Together, the four grades make up a basket of crudes called
BFOE, which is widely still referred to as Brent crude. The grade
is of international importance because it remains one of the most
liquid markets in which market forces, rather than government
decisions, set prices.
Brent is used to benchmark more than half of the world's oil,
though discussion in the markets has raised the question of
whether, as North Sea supplies continue to decline, another
benchmark may need to be found.
North Sea loading programs
January December
(barrels) Volume(B/D) (barrels) Volume (B/D)
Brent 3,000,000 96,774 4,200,000 135,484
Forties 12,600,000 406,452 12,000,000 387,097
Oseberg 4,200,000 135,484 4,800,000 154,839
Ekofisk 9,600,000 309,677 9,600,000 309,677
Total BFOE 29,400,000 948,387 30,600,000 987,097
Write to Cassie Werber at cassie.werber@wsj.com