North Sea crude oil output from has been predicted to fall in March for a third month this year due to maintenance work and natural declines.
Supply will average 2.18million barrels per day (bpd) in March, said Reuters, down 1.4% from 2.21 million bpd this month.
The tightness in supply has prompted a rally in the North Sea Brent benchmark market, which helps to set global oil prices.
This has caught out some traders, who expected supply of light, sweet crude to be ample in 2012.
Output from the Statfjord stream in Norway and Denmark’s DUC is due to decline next month.
Traders say there was maintenance taking place at Statfjord, where exports are scheduled to be significantly lower.
The supply figure for March represents the third monthly decline in output of the 12 crudes, which Reuters started tracking in December.
North Sea production is in steady decline as oilfields age. Based on a smaller sample of nine crudes, the March total is down around 16% from the same month in 2011.
Output of the four crudes that make up the Brent benchmark are also due to fall in March.
Combined loadings of Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk crudes are due to average 990,000bpd, down from 1.0 million bpd in February, Reuters said.
Of the four, Forties is the most important because it typically sets the value of dated Brent, which is used to price up to 70% of the world’s physical cargoes and is part of the Brent futures underlying market.
Output of Forties has been reduced by oilfield glitches, delaying shipments in February and March and boosting the price structure of Brent crude.
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