North Sea Crude Market Gets a Jolt From Asian Oil Demand
- Floating storage of North Sea oil has plunged from peak
- Physical prices, swaps rally receive a boost from Asia
Photographer: Kristian Helgesen/Bloomberg
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North Sea oil prices are finally strengthening, catching up with other markets that already rallied on the back of rising buying interest from Asia, where demand in many places has already recovered from Covid-19.
North Sea crude stored on ships has plunged by more than 40% to about 7.4 million barrels from a peak in mid-October, as a flotilla of supertankers sails east, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Meanwhile, the price of Forties crude, which sets the region’s Dated Brent benchmark, has risen to the highest level since late August. Swaps prices -- an indication of physical market’s strength -- have also surged.