LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Outages at North Sea oilfieldshave helped put competing Nigerian oil on pace to arrive inEurope at the highest levels in seven months in June, accordingto Refinitiv Eikon data and traders.
Nigeria is set to export about 905,000 barrels per day (bpd)to the continent this month, the most since a roughly five-yearhigh of about 1 million bpd in November.
Norwegian and UK offshore fields in the North Sea normallyprovide a steady supply of lighter crude to refineries feedingnorthern Europe's major economies and are traditionally morecompetitive than Nigerian grades due to their proximity.
But planned maintenance on Norway's Ekofisk oilfields thismonth slashed exports to just one cargo from the usual 10-15.Flotta, another of the 12 North Sea fields, closed for repairsover two weeks in late May.
"Nigerian grades are normally middle-distillate-rich andwith Ekofisk having undergone maintenance, Nigeria is meetingEuropean demand for this type of crude," said Ehsan Ul-Haq, leadanalyst for oil research and forecasts at Refinitiv.
Supply of the five North Sea crude grades that underpin thedated Brent benchmark is set to fall to around 720,000 bpd inJune, from 948,000 bpd the month before.
The contamination of a pipeline carrying Russian Urals crudein April interrupted flows to central and eastern Europe for amonth and left stocks in need of replenishment.
Higher volumes to Europe have provided an unexpected boon,with Nigerian exports to the United States on the wane for adecade due to increased U.S. shale oil production, and demandrelatively steady in Nigeria's key markets India and Indonesia.
"(Europe) always tends to act as the clearing house at lowervalue than the East," one trader selling Nigerian crude said.
Though European gasoline margins have been middling andespecially poor among southern European refiners, severalfactors may mesh in coming months to support Nigeriandifferentials, which stand near multi-year highs.
Traders said the possibility of a permanent shutdown to thefire-stricken
Egina, heavy sweet crude from a new offshore field, hasproved consistently popular among refiners in northwest Europe.
"Exports of the grade primarily go to Europe, specificallythe Netherlands and France, which combined took around 155,000bpd in May, or 83% of the grade's exports," said Mercedes McKay,analyst at energy consultancy FGE.
Heavier grades could also benefit, with comparableVenezuelan and Iranian crude pushed off the market by U.S.sanctions and ahead of a January switch to less-polluting marinefuels under new International Maritime Organization standards.
"(Even if) margins are bad, European refiners think they canprofit from distillate demand for the 2020 bunker fuel change,"Refinitiv's Ul-Haq said.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Differentials for Nigerian Qua Iboe
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Noah Browning; Editing by Dale Hudson) ((noah.browning@thomsonreuters.com;))
