Hound Point Crude Terminal Closed to VLCCs Until Mid-September

Hound Point Marine Terminal, image via W waltersen/wikipedia

LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The supertanker jetty at the North Sea’s Hound Point crude oil terminal is shut for maintenance and will not reopen until Sept. 15, industry sources said on Thursday, making sending excess cargoes to Asia more difficult for traders.

The Hound Point jetty has two berths, but only Jetty 1 is large enough for the Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) that traders normally use to send cargoes to Asia. The smaller Jetty 2 berth will remain open, one source said.

A glut of crude in the Atlantic Basin has depressed price differentials in the North Sea close to multi-year lows, leading to expectations more cargoes would sail east.

But without the economies of scale of using VLCCs the arbitrage trade is less workable, potentially pressuring Forties and other North Sea crudes that underpin Brent oil futures . (Reporting by David Sheppard; editing by David Clarke)

(c) 2014 Thomson Reuters, All Rights Reserved

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