North Sea Ekofisk oil loadings to rise in April, Brent and Forties steady

Loadings of North Sea Ekofisk crude oil are scheduled one cargo higher on the month at ten cargoes in April, according to a loading programme seen by Reuters.

Loadings of Brent and Forties crude will be stable on the month at two and eight cargoes respectively in April, loading programmes for the grades indicated.

But exports of all three grades will rise on a daily basis in April, given that the month is one day shorter than March.

Ekofisk loadings will rise to around 233,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April, from 203,000 bpd in March.

Forties loadings will edge up to 187,000 bpd from the 181,000 bpd pencilled in for next month.

Brent exports are set to reach 47,000 bpd in April, up from 45,000 bpd in March.

All three grades feed into the dated Brent global crude oil benchmark, alongside other North Sea grades Oseberg and Troll, and U.S. WTI Midland.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Kirste Donovan)