Dated Brent basket crude loadings to fall to 870,968 b/d in Jan, down 58,065 b/d

London — Loadings of the five North Sea grades that make up the Dated Brent basket are set to fall in January, according to loading program data compiled by S&P Global Platts.

Average loadings are expected to be 58,065 b/d lower than December at 870,968 b/d.

A total of 45 cargoes are scheduled to load across Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll in January, compared with 48 in the latest update of the December programs, according to Platts data.

That means 27 million barrels are expected to load in January, down from 28.8 million in December.

Forties is the largest program of the five grades in the basket, with 15 cargoes of 600,000 barrels expected to load in January, up one from December.

In contrast, Ekofisk is expected to load four fewer cargoes in January compared to the revised December program, with 13 currently scheduled.

The number of Brent, Oseberg and Troll cargoes expected to load in January are unchanged month on month at four, six and seven, respectively.

In January, Forties should account for 33% of the total Dated Brent volumes, followed by 29% for Ekofisk, 16% for Troll, 13% for Oseberg and 9% for Brent.

Average loadings (b/d)

Source: Loading programs, traders