North Sea Forties differentials fell to a wider discount to dated Brent after a deal in the Platts window on Tuesday, as traders digested August North Sea benchmark loadings.

LOADING PROGRAMMES

  • Supply of the five North Sea crude oil grades underpinning the dated Brent benchmark in August will not include Brent crude for the first time, monthly loading programmes and LSEG data showed on Tuesday.

  • Loadings of the five grades will average about 474,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August, up from 452,000 bpd in July.

PLATTS WINDOW

Indications are free on board unless marked as cost, insurance and freight or delivered at place.

  • There was one trade on Tuesday.

  • Forties: TotalEnergies bought a July 12-14 cargo from Unipec at dated Brent minus $1.50

  • Forties: BP offered a July 19-21 cargo at dated Brent minus 50 cents.

  • On Monday, Unipec offered a July 12-14 Forties cargo at dated Brent minus $1.35 a barrel.

  • WTI Midland: BP offered a July 29 - August 2 cargo at dated Brent plus 90 cents CIF Rotterdam.

  • The offer level equated to around dated minus 30 cents on a FOB basis according to Reuters calculations.

  • On Monday, Repsol bought a July 23-27 WTI Midland cargo from ExxonMobil at dated Brent plus 80 cents CIF Rotterdam, and Moeve bought a July 29-August 2 cargo from BP at dated Brent plus 60 cents CIF Rotterdam.

  • The average of those deals was equal to roughly dated Brent minus 50 cents on an FOB basis according to Reuters calculations.

  • Brent: BP offered a July 15-17 Brent/Ninian cargo at dated Brent minus 50 cents a barrel, after it offered the same dates at dated minus $1.25 on Monday.