Three cargoes of North Sea Forties crude were deferred from the June export program to July, a revised shipping schedule obtained by Bloomberg News showed. This reduced the number of shipments for this month to 21 from 24. A total of five cargoes have been dropped from the June program and five were deferred from May to June. The revised July program comprised of 21 cargoes, up from the original 18, according to the schedule. Output from the Buzzard field, the biggest blend in the Forties crude stream, was below 19 percent of total Forties production from May 2 to June 5, compared with the normal level of about 33 percent, according to BP Plc, which operates the Forties Pipeline System. Nexen Inc (NXY), the operator of Buzzard, is now replacing a faulty cooling system. “We expect to increase production beyond current levels through June and July and reach full capacity of over 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day toward the end of July as upgraded coolers are installed and commissioning of the fourth platform is completed,” the company said May 19. Forties is one of four North Sea crude grades used to price Dated Brent, the benchmark for more than half of global oil. The other blends are Brent, Ekofisk and Oseberg. Loading programs are monthly schedules of crude shipments compiled by field operators to allow buyers and sellers to plan their supply and trading activities. The following table gives details of the three deferred cargoes: --------------------------------------------------------------- Parcel Number Revised Dates Original Dates F0607 July 4 to July 6 June 10 to June 12 F0621 June 30 to July 2 June 26 to June 28 F0622 July 2 to July 4 June 27 to June 29 --------------------------------------------------------------- To contact the reporter on this story: Sherry Su in London at lsu23@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net

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