North Sea Crude-Diffs ease as VLCCs change course, Buzzard supply returns

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - North Sea Forties crude differentials fell on Thursday, under pressure from rising supplies and an apparent drop-off in demand after two supertanker trips looked unlikely to take place.

* The Buzzard field, the largest contributor to the Forties stream, has returned to normal production levels, according to operator Nexen Petroleum UK Ltd. A technical glitch last week knocked production back to around 160,000 barrels per day, from closer to 180,000 bpd.

* On the demand front, the collapse of a couple of shipping fixtures has cut the number of Asia-bound VLCCs from the North Sea to three, from five, previously, shipping sources said.

* Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) had booked the Apollonas to load at Hound Point next week, but this vessel is now sailing into the Mediterranean, according to Reuters ship-tracking data and one shipping source said there was no evidence that the vessel would head to Britain.

* Shell had also booked the Athenian Success to load Forties this week, but the vessel is anchored at Fawley and is now due to load in the Caribbean, one trade source said.

* Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) 's shipping arm, ST Shipping, has booked the Aquila (Paris: FR0010340711 - news) , which is now at Hound Point for loading and is due to sail to South Korea, as well as the VLCCs Alice, which is anchored off the Scottish coast, and the Huge, which is off northwest Africa.

* Shell and Glencore currently hold almost half of the February Forties programme, according to loading schedules and trading sources.

WINDOW SUMMARY

FORTIES/BRENT

* BP sold Vitol a cargo of Brent for loading Feb 18-20 at a discount of 30 cents to the dated price.

* Unipec sold Shell a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 14-16 via STS (Shanghai: 603322.SS - news) at Scapa Flow from the Alfa Britannia at a discount of $1.15 to the cash BFOE price.

* Glencore bid for a cargo of Forties loading Feb 25-27 at parity with dated Brent.

* Trafigura bid for one cargo of Forties for loading Feb 24-28 at a premium of 5 cents to dated Brent and for a second cargo for loading Feb 16-20 at a discount of 5 cents to dated Brent.

* Unipec offered a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 13-15 at a discount of 10 cents to the dated price. * Shell withdrew a bid for a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 12-21 at a discount of 15 cents to dated Brent.

* BP withdrew an offer for a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 20-22 at parity with dated Brent.

* Litasco withdrew a bid for a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 12-20 at a discount of 15 cents to the dated benchmark. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)