Brent crude export terminal to suffer strike action from mid-May

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Exports of Brent crude oil from the UK could be disrupted in May after workers at the Sullom Voe terminal on the Shetland Islands north of Scotland voted this week to strike, according to local media reports.

The strike will start in the middle of next month, slowing down operations at one of Europe's biggest oil terminals, where oil from the North Sea fields is taken to via pipeline and stored before being picked up for onward transport via tanker.

The vote was taken by harbour tug workers who voted overwhelmingly in favour of striking following a ballot earlier this month and Unite Scotland confirmed on Tuesday that 87 per cent of its members voted to take action.

Although Brent is still considered the flagship grade for the North Sea with the ICE futures contract and Dated Brent carrying its name, production these days is relatively small with Brent Blend output around 65,000 barrels per day, with a number of the original production regions from the Brent field now closed.

Brent reached peak production of 500,000 bpd in 1982 but after going into decline was co-mingled with Ninian, where combined production reached 900,000 bpd in the early 1990s before terminal decline set in. 

Brent Blend (Brent/Ninian) production dropped to around 400,000 bpd in the early 2000s and following a number of price disconnects, Forties and Oseberg were added as alternative-delivery grades for the Dated Brent benchmark. Subsequently, Ekofisk and Troll have been added to the 'Dated basket'.

Forties production is up to 300,000 bpd, Ekofisk around 290,000 bpd, Troll 170,000 bpd, Oseberg 135,000 bpd and Brent around 70,000 bpd. However, volumes regularly fall short of these levels due to maintenance schedules and unscheduled outages.