London (Platts)--2Sep2010/812 am EDT/1212 GMT

The proportion of higher-sulfur Buzzard crude entering the North Sea Forties Pipeline System fell 4 percentage points to 35% in the week ending August 29 from the week of August 16-22, FPS operator BP said on its website Thursday. Because the Buzzard field inputs sour crude into the FPS, the more it makes up of the Forties blend, the more sour the overall quality. As North Sea summer field maintenance is coming to an end, the percentage of Buzzard in the overall Forties blend is expected to decline further to around 30%, as other sweeter fields feeding into the FPS are returning to full operations again. Furthermore, the addition of two extra cargoes to the Forties loading program in the last week suggested that "production must be looking good", according to market sources. The latest stem added was a ConocoPhillips equity cargo for dates September 13-15, taking the total number of cargoes for September to 29 from the originally 27. At the current 35%, the Forties Blend is expected to show a sulfur content of around 0.65% and gravity of 40.00 API. BP provides weekly data on the percentage of Buzzard grade injected into the Forties system on its website. --Verena Peternell, verena_peternell@platts.com Similar stories appear in Crude Oil Marketwire See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products/crudeoilmarketwire/