UK North Sea Buzzard oilfield to ramp up over next week

(Adds comment from industry source, background)

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Production at the UK's North Sea Buzzard oilfield will ramp up over the next week after the demobilisation of a drilling rig, its operator said on Thursday, marking the return of one of the key fields that underpins Brent crude oil futures.

"With the safe demobilisation of the drilling rig, towing will commence shortly," Calgary-based Nexen (KSE: 005720.KS - news) said.

"Buzzard production will ramp up over the next week, as planned," Nexen, owned by China's state-backed CNOOC (HKSE: 0883.HK - news) , added.

One industry source said the restart of the field had commenced on Wednesday.

Buzzard is closely watched by oil traders worldwide as it is the biggest contributor to the Forties oil stream, the largest of the four benchmark crudes that are the physical supply behind international benchmark Brent crude oil futures.

The field has undergone a series of restarts and shutdowns since returning from summer maintenance at the end of August, with Nexen saying it wanted to carry out additional work to demobilise the drilling rig during a period of good weather.

On Tuesday Nexen said the demoblisation work could take another week. (Reporting by David Sheppard and Alex Lawler in London; Editing by David Evans)