London (Platts)--20 Dec 2017
The Buzzard oil field in the UK North Sea contributed 31% to Forties Blend crude output in the week to Sunday, up from 30% the previous week, Forties pipeline operator Ineos said Wednesday.
Forties loadings were interrupted on December 11 due to the discovery of a hairline crack requiring repairs on the Forties Pipeline.
The content of sour stream Buzzard last week meant the sulfur content of Forties Blend was slightly above 0.68%, with the API gravity between 39.6 and 39, according to an Ineos conversion table.
The share of Buzzard in Forties has been fairly steady since early November, oscillating between 30% and 32%.
Trading sources said it was unclear what to expect in terms of Forties quality upon the restart of the pipeline.
"No one knows what sort of quality will be coming out once the start up happens," one trader said.
Fields contributing to the Forties stream including Buzzard have seen production shut down during the ongoing repairs to the pipeline.
Other key oil fields feeding crude via the Forties pipeline include Shell's Shearwater, Apache's Forties field, and the Chevron-operated Alder and Erskine fields, all of which have been shut down, according to the companies.
The Buzzard field remains the largest single contributor to Forties Blend, one of the five grades currently included in the Dated Brent benchmark.
--Maude Desmarescaux, [email protected]
--Edited by Dan Lalor, [email protected]
The Buzzard oil field in the UK North Sea contributed 31% to Forties Blend crude output in the week to Sunday, up from 30% the previous week, Forties pipeline operator Ineos said Wednesday.
Forties loadings were interrupted on December 11 due to the discovery of a hairline crack requiring repairs on the Forties Pipeline.
The content of sour stream Buzzard last week meant the sulfur content of Forties Blend was slightly above 0.68%, with the API gravity between 39.6 and 39, according to an Ineos conversion table.
The share of Buzzard in Forties has been fairly steady since early November, oscillating between 30% and 32%.
Trading sources said it was unclear what to expect in terms of Forties quality upon the restart of the pipeline.
"No one knows what sort of quality will be coming out once the start up happens," one trader said.
Fields contributing to the Forties stream including Buzzard have seen production shut down during the ongoing repairs to the pipeline.
Other key oil fields feeding crude via the Forties pipeline include Shell's Shearwater, Apache's Forties field, and the Chevron-operated Alder and Erskine fields, all of which have been shut down, according to the companies.
The Buzzard field remains the largest single contributor to Forties Blend, one of the five grades currently included in the Dated Brent benchmark.
--Maude Desmarescaux, [email protected]
--Edited by Dan Lalor, [email protected]
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