North Sea Crude-Forties steady, traders eye potential strike

* Forties unchanged in quiet market * Grangemouth refinery workers vote to strike * Korean shipments should help tighten market LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - North Sea Forties crudedifferentials were unchanged on Friday in a market where theonly offers were withdrawn and traders attempted to assess theimpact of a potential refinery strike. Workers at Petroineos's 210,000 barrels-per-day Grangemouthrefinery have voted in favour of strike action, raising fears ofdisruption to North Sea oil supplies. A walk-out would likely impact throughput at the Kinneilterminal, which processes the oil that comes ashore via theForties Pipeline System (FPS). A spokeswoman for operator BP confirmed that Kinneilrelies on steam from the Grangemouth refinery for its processingtrains, but said she could not comment on the impact of apotential strike. But a two-day strike at Grangemouth in 2008 had asignificant impact on Forties output. "It shut down the pipelineentirely," a trader said. Other traders said that there were already flow restrictionsin place on the FPS due to issues with two of the threeprocessing trains at Kinneil. This restriction is expected tolast until the first week of October, traders said, althoughthis could not be confirmed with BP. As a result, the Buzzard oilfield, the biggest contributorto the Forties stream, has had to pump at around 170,000 bpd allmonth. Its maximum operating capacity is about 200,000 bpd. Any further interruptions to the flow could boost Fortiesdifferentials, which have come under pressure as the price ofRussian Urals, a competing crude, has dropped sharply. Withexport volumes from the Baltic region expected to rise inOctober Urals has weakened to a five-month low. Traders are also waiting to see if all the VLCC shipmentsthat have been provisionally booked to take North Sea crude toAsia in October and November will go ahead. "Mid-October is peak European refinery maintenance so theflows to Korea have helped to tidy a seasonally looser market,"a trader said. FORTIES * There were no trades in the Platts price assessmentwindow. The only offers were withdrawn, a trader said. * With no activity seen, the Forties assessment remains atdated minus 25 cents. SWAPS * Click on for the latest contracts-for-differences. DATABASE