2nd UPDATE: More Forties Cargoes Deferred On Unstable Output

(Add more deferrals, maintenance, Forties price) By Sherry Su Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--More North Sea Forties crude cargoes for August loading were deferred due to unstable production at some fields, traders said Thursday. Cargoes numbered F0802, F0804, F0806, F0808 and F0810 were deferred by another two to five days after their last deferrals, while the cargo F0803 was deferred by one day to Aug. 7-9 from the original plan and the cargo F0814 was deferred by three days to Aug. 24-26. So far, 10 cargoes for August loading have been deferred and one cargo has been dropped, traders said. Some traders said there is some production problems at the 200,000-barrel-a-day Buzzard field, but details remain sketchy. Operator Nexen Inc. (NXY) wasn't immediately available to comment. BP PLC (BP) will shut its Unity Riser platform, a key part of Forties Pipeline System in the North Sea, on Aug. 1-6 for planned maintenance. Some technical problems occurred recently on the FPS, which BP operates. Two weeks ago, a valve failure prompted Nexen to shut its Scott platform in the North Sea. Some smaller fields which are fed into FPS will also be shut for maintenance in August, traders said. With more cargoes being deferred, some traders are worried whether these maintenance works will last longer than expected or whether there are some unexpected production glitches. Tight supply has sharply pushed up the differential of Forties, which normally sets the price of benchmark Dated Brent. Nearly 60% of global physical traders are priced against Dated Brent. Wednesday, Trafigura sold one standard 600,000-barrel cargo of Forties for Aug. 15-17 loading to Vitol Holding at a fresh two-year high of a premium of $1.20 a barrel over Dated Brent. As a result, Dated Brent Wednesday rose to a premium of around $1.00 a barrel above front-month September Brent futures on London's ICE futures exchange, a level not seen in at least two years. Parcel No. Original Dates Revised Dates Volume(Bbl) Lifters F0802 Aug 4-6 Aug 9-11 600,000 ConocoPhillips F0803 Aug 6-8 Aug 7-9 600,000 Shell F0804 Aug 7-9 Aug 13-15 600,000 Nexen F0806 Aug 10-12 Aug 17-19 600,000 Statoil F0808 Aug 13-15 Aug 18-20 600,000 Nexen F0810 Aug 16-18 Aug 20-22 600,000 Petro-Canada F0813 Aug 20-22 Aug 21-23 600,000 Nexen F0814 Aug 21-23 Aug 24-26 600,000 BP F0815 Aug 23-25 dropped 600,000 Shell F0816 Aug 24-26 Aug 26-28 600,000 Nexen F0818 Aug 26-28 Aug 28-30 600,000 ConocoPhillips Sources: Traders -By Sherry Su, Dow Jones Newswires; +44(0)20-7842-9329; sherry.su@dowjones.com (Paddy Gourlay in London contributed to this article.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 29, 2010 12:22 ET (16:22 GMT)