North Sea Crude-Ekofisk rises to one-month high

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - North Sea Ekofisk crude differentials continued to rise on Thursday, boosted by a flurry of stronger offers and ahead of an expected drop in supply next month.

* Ekofisk, a light naphtha-rich grade, changed hands at its highest level in a month after Vitol sold Unipec a cargo for loading in two weeks' time.

* Supply of both Brent and Ekofisk will fall in February, based on loading programmes issued this week.

* In flows, BP has booked the Aquila (Paris: FR0010340711 - news) to load at Hound Point in late January, bound for South Korea. This is the second VLCC the refiner has chartered this month, having tentatively booked the Gener8 Neptune to load Forties next week for the same route.

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

* Glencore offered a cargo of Brent for loading Feb. 1-3 at a discount of 10 cents to the dated price.

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

* Vitol withdrew one offer for a cargo of Forties for loading Jan. 17-19 at Scapa Flow from the New Success at a premium of 30 cents to dated Brent and a second offer for Forties for loading Jan. 30-Feb 1 at a discount of 10 cents to the dated price. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by David Goodman)