London, 28 July (Argus) — North Sea Forties grade crude has gained over $1/bl in premium against North Sea Dated in just one month with two cargoes traded at the highest premium since March 2008.

During yesterday's late trading session, Vitol bought two 600,000 bl Forties cargoes. One was from BP, bought at a $1.05/bl premium against the North Sea Dated benchmark and scheduled to load 11-13 August

The second trade saw Vitol buy a 13-15 August-loading cargo from Trafigura at September North Sea plus 0.85, which is equivalent to around a $1.06/bl premium against the North Sea Dated benchmark.

The trades represent the highest premium paid for Forties cargoes since 11 March 2008 when BP sold a 27-29 March-loading Forties cargo to Vitol at a $1.75/bl premium against the North Sea Dated benchmark.

The differential of Forties against North Sea Dated has gained over $1/bl in the space of one month. On 28 June, Vitol sold a 17-19 July-loading cargo to BP at a 5¢/bl discount to North Sea Dated and on 25 June a cargo changed hands at a 20¢/bl discount against the benchmark.

Traders said that part of the reason for the rise in Forties is reduced production for August-loading. Only 20 cargoes are scheduled to load in August - equivalent to 387,097 b/d - compared to 29 cargoes in July and the 30 cargoes normally scheduled to load each month. Maintenance will bring fluctuations in the sulphur levels in Forties as contributing fields come on and off stream.

Other North Sea grades are also suffering from reduced production, including gasoline-rich grades such as Statfjord and distillate-rich grade Gullfaks.

The August-loading BFOE basket is scheduled to load just 930,707 b/d compared to 1,101,939 b/d in July.

But some traders have been puzzled by the strength of Forties as the differentials for all other North Sea grades have weakened recently and refining margins in Europe have weakened after their second-quarter rally.

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