First North Sea Forties Crude Cargo Dropped From October Program

A first North Sea Forties crude cargo for October loading was dropped and a fourth September shipment was delayed to October amid production woes, according to a revised export program obtained by Bloomberg News.

The October shipment with parcel number F1012 was dropped, while September lot F0917 was delayed to Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, the plan showed. Each consignment is 600,000 barrels.

In the past month, a total of 19 shipments for September and October were deferred by two to 10 days and three cargoes were dropped, according to the program. Forties is one of four North Sea crude grades used to price Dated Brent, the benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil.

The share of crude produced from the 200,000-barrel-a-day Buzzard field, the biggest stream in the Forties blend, dropped to 29 percent in the seven days to Sept. 18 from 32 percent a week earlier, BP Plc said yesterday on its website. BP operates the Forties Pipeline System.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sherry Su in London at lsu23@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net