By Alexander Kwiatkowski
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — Dated Brent climbed relative to the cost of December oil after Royal Dutch Shell Plc bought two North Sea crude cargoes from BP Plc. Russia’s Urals crude fell for a third day.
Dated Brent for loading in 10 to 21 days was at a premium of $1.12 to the cost of December oil, compared with a premium of 78 cents yesterday, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd. Physical crude oil for November delivery was at $83.82 a barrel at 1:30 p.m. London time, according to PVM.
Dated Brent is set by the cheapest of four crude grades: Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Brent blend, the BP Plc-operated Forties, StatoilHydro ASA’s Oseberg and the Ekofisk blend, which is operated by ConocoPhillips. It’s a price benchmark for about two-thirds of the world’s oil, from Europe, Africa and Russia. Forties and Brent blend are currently the cheapest grades.
The price of both Forties and Brent rose, pushing up Dated Brent, after BP sold a cargo of each to Shell, the companies said. Shell bid for a Brent or Forties cargo loading between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, and was sold a cargo of Brent blend by BP loading between Oct. 29 and Oct. 31. After the initial trade, Shell continued to bid for a Forties cargo loading on the same dates and traded again with BP.
As a result of the deals done, the so-called Forties and Brent differentials, the spreads between the cost of Forties and Brent cargoes loading in 10 to 21 days and a forward price for oil, were both at a premium of 80 cents. That is an increase of 30 cents for Forties and 10 cents for Brent compared with yesterday.
Urals crude, Russia’s export blend, fell for a third day relative to Dated Brent. The cost of a cargo of Urals crude for delivery in northwestern Europe was at a discount of $2.93 to Dated Brent, compared with a discount of $2.90 yesterday. according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in London at [email protected]
Last Updated: October 16, 2007 10:57 EDT
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