Four November North Sea Forties crude cargoes delayed -trade

By Claire Milhench

LONDON, Oct (KOSDAQ: 039200.KQ - news) 21 (Reuters) - The loading dates of four November North Sea Forties crude oil cargoes have been pushed back, trade sources said on Monday.

Parcel F1104, originally set to load on Nov. 5-7, will now load on Nov. 8-10 while parcel F1108 has been delayed from Nov. 10-12 to Nov. 12-14. Both cargoes were originally allocated to Nexen (KSE: 005720.KS - news) .

Parcel F1107 has moved from Nov. 9-11 to Nov. 10-12 and parcel F1109 has moved from Nov. 12-14 to Nov. 13-15. These cargoes were initially allocated to Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Chevron, respectively.

An October cargo, F1017, has also moved back one day to Oct. 31-Nov. 2, but this was attributed to an option being taken up.

Some traders suggested the delays were linked to flow restrictions on the Forties pipeline that were only lifted at the weekend. The restrictions were in place for some time due to maintenance at the Kinneil oil processing terminal.

But some traders said the impact of the deferrals was larger than what could be explained by flow restrictions alone.

Traders are watching an ongoing shutdown at Scotland's Grangemouth refinery which provides the steam and electricity which Kinneil needs to power its processing trains.

Both Kinneil's operator BP (LSE: BP.L - news) and Grangemouth's operator Ineos have said there is no impact on Kinneil and the Forties pipeline from the current refinery shutdown.

But some traders are worried that the situation may worsen. "If they shut in the refinery or run it very low then there may not be sufficient utilities for Kinneil to run at its maximum," one trader said. (Reporting by Claire Milhench; editing by Jason Neely)