Total Buys Forties From Conoco; Buzzard’s Share Drops: Wrap
Total SA bought a cargo of North Sea Forties crude from ConocoPhillips, the second in as many days. The share of North Sea Buzzard grade in the Forties oil blend dropped to 35 percent last week from 39 percent.
Total said it bought a shipment from ConocoPhillips for loading from Sept. 13 to Sept. 15 at a premium of 15 cents a barrel to Dated Brent after purchasing one at a 25-cent premium yesterday for the same loading dates. Total also bid for a cargo at 5 cents above Dated Brent for loading Sept. 16 to Sept. 21.
BP Plc said it offered a cargo of Ekofisk at a premium of $1.35 a barrel to Dated Brent for loading on Sept. 21, while Royal Dutch Shell Plc also offered an Ekofisk shipment at a $1.25-premium for loading Sept. 22 to Sept.24. Both cargoes were unsold.
Reported North Sea market activity typically occurs during a trading window that ends daily at 4:30 p.m. in London.
Prior to the window, Forties loading from 10 to 21 days in the future was at a premium of 25 cents to Dated Brent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Brent crude for October settlement traded at $76.04 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at the close of the window, up from $75.94 at the same time yesterday. The November contract traded at $76.40 a barrel. That’s a contango of 36 cents between the two nearest-term contracts.
The share of North Sea Buzzard crude in the Forties oil blend dropped to 35 percent last week, down from 39 percent in the week to Aug. 22, BP said on its website, potentially increasing the value of the benchmark grade.
Exxon Mobil Corp. was forced to shut one of two crude- distillation units at its 230,000 barrel-a-day Sarpom refinery in Trecate, Italy, after a fire broke out yesterday.
Shell’s 64,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Fredericia, Denmark will shut late tomorrow for 14 days of maintenance, Vejle Amts Folkeblad reported, citing Jette Enevoldsen, production chief at the refinery.
Indian Oil Corp., the country’s biggest state refiner, is seeking to buy crude for loading in November, according to official documents. The company is bidding for cargoes of West African, Caspian, North Sea, North African, Malaysian and Middle East crude in a tender valid until Sept. 3.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Murphy in London at bmurphy74@bloomberg.net
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