North Sea Crude-Ekofisk weakens, Forties steadies after drop

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - North Sea Ekofisk differentials weakened on Wednesday and Forties held steady, as the market remained under downward pressure from ample physical supplies.

VLCC TRACKING

* Vitol was still offering cargoes of Forties from the VLCCs Trikwong Venture and Desimi. Both vessels were originally scheduled to sail to Asia.

* Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) has the VLCC Baltic Glory, anchored off Southwold, and the Gener8 Hercules, which is loading at Hound Point.

* It was unclear how many more VLCCs of Forties would load in March. A fixture of another vessel, Hakata, now looks unlikely, a trader said.

* Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) has fixed the Maran Athena to load Forties on April 5 for shipment to Asia, another trader said.

WINDOW SUMMARY

* Forties: Vitol was still offering from the Trikwong Venture and Desimi at dated Brent minus 20 cents. The last deal was done on Tuesday at dated Brent minus 50 cents.

* Ekofisk: Glencore bought from Vitol a March 31-April 2 cargo at dated Brent minus 30 cents, down 5 cents from Tuesday's lowest offer. (Reporting by Alex Lawler; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)