North Sea Crude-Forties steady, helped by VLCC fixtures

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - North Sea Forties crude differentials held steady on Friday, supported by evidence of more Asian demand for the grade, while Ekofisk eased a few cents from its recent highs.

* Production from 12 major North Sea crude streams will average 2.143 million barrels per day, up from January's loading rate of 2.114 million bpd, according to Reuters calculations based on loading programmes provided by trade sources.

This will be the largest loading programme since March 2016, when daily supply reached 2.166 million bpd, although the higher loading rate is largely as a result of fewer available days in February relative to January.

* In flows, Petroineos has tentatively booked a VLCC to load Forties in the last week of January, bound for South Korea. If the fixture goes ahead, this will bring the total of supertankers heading to Asia from the North Sea to three, according to Reuters shipping data.

WINDOW SUMMARY

EKOFISK/OSEBERG

* Vitol sold Unipec a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Jan. 20-22 at a premium of 25 cents to dated Brent.

* Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) offered a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Jan. 26-28 at a premium of 15 cents to the dated benchmark price.

* Unipec bid for a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Jan. 18-25 at a premium of 25 cents to dated Brent.

* Mercuria withdrew an offer for Oseberg for Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at a premium of 60 cents to dated Brent.

* BP withdrew an offer for a cargo of Oseberg for loading Feb. 1-3 at a premium of 55 cents to the dated price.

BRENT/FORTIES

WITHDRAWN:

* Vitol withdrew an offer for a cargo of Forties loading Jan. 17-19 via STS (Shanghai: 603322.SS - news) at Scapa Flow from the New Success at a premium of 30 cents to dated Brent.

* BP withdrew an offer for a cargo of Oseberg for loading Feb. 1-3 at a premium of 70 cents to dated Brent.

OUTSTANDING:

* Vitol offered a cargo of Forties for loading Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at a discount of 10 cents to dated Brent.

* Unipec bid for a cargo of Forties for loading Jan. 25-31 at a discount of 10 cents to the dated price.

* Mercuria offered a cargo of Oseberg for loading Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at a premium of 65 cents to dated Brent.

* Unipec bid for one cargo of Oseberg for loading Jan. 21-30 at a premium of 60 cents to the dated price and for a second loading Jan. 16-20 at the same level.

* Unipec bid for a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Jan. 23-31 at a premium of 20 cents to dated Brent. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by David Evans)