North Sea Crude-Brent weakens, Forties firms on upcoming maintenance

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) -

* The differential for Forties crude jumped on Thursday for end-August loading cargoes as the prospect of September field maintenance began to sink in.

* Cheap freight means that traders holding Forties in VLCCs off the UK coast are in no hurry to sell.

* The differential for the Brent grade fell, reflecting the still long market, which has led to a significant uptick in the number and variety of North Sea cargoes heading to the Mediterranean. A region that previously only received about one cargo of North Sea crude a month, Reuters data showed.

* At least three August loading cargoes will go to Mediterranean refineries, according to ship tracking and traders.

* Several cargoes of Brent and Ekofisk went south in July. Greece's Motoroil Hellas took an unusual cargo of Forties and Italy's Sarroch refinery took a cargo of Troll.

WINDOW SUMMARY

* Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) sold a cargo of Brent to Exxon at dated Brent minus 45 cents a barrel loading Aug 28-30.

* Unipec sold a cargo of Forties to Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) at dated Brent minus 30 cents a barrel loading Aug 29-31.

* Vitol offered a cargo of Forties via ship-to-ship transfer from the Ligovsky Prospect at dated Brent minus 25 cents a barrel loading Aug. 26-31, down 5 cents from Wednesday. (Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)