Forties Floating Storage Falls To 2M Bbl On Destocking -Trade

24th Jun 2010 11:36

By Sherry Su Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--The floating storage of North Sea Forties crude oil has fallen by half to 2 million barrels after destocking occurred in one of the two supertankers, traders and shipbrokers said Thursday. The Very Large Crude Carrier BW Lake, chartered by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), is anchored off Wilhelmshaven, Germany, after floating off Southwold, eastern England, for nearly a month, traders said. Shell must be unloading the Forties cargoes from the supertanker to nearby refineries, they said. One VLCC typically holds 2 million barrels of crude oil. The BW Lake will be available for booking in Rotterdam from July 1, said a shipbroker. Only the Bunga Kasturi Empat, also chartered by Shell, is currently used for Forties storage. The supertanker has been floating off Southwold after loading Forties May 31-June 2 in Hound Point, Scotland. Traders mostly say Forties floating storage is unlikely to rise in coming months, mainly due to planned maintenance at Hound Point. The No. 1 jetty, which can handle vessels of up to 350,000 deadweight tons, will be shut from July 1 to Sept. 30 due to maintenance works, traders said. The Hound Point terminal, which is owned and operated by BP PLC (BP), consists of two jetties but only the No. 1 jetty can berth VLCCs. This means no VLCCs will be able to load Forties at Hound Point for three months from July 1. -By Sherry Su, Dow Jones Newswires; +44(0)20-7842-9329; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 24, 2010 06:36 ET (10:36 GMT)