Maintenance to delay loadings at Qatar’s al-Shaheen oilfield -Maersk

Maersk says maintenance work at the al-Shaheen oilfield does not affect the company’s target full year production of around 300,000 barrels per day. Maersk photo.

al-Shaheen oilfield located off Qatar’s coast

COPENHAGEN/SINGAPORE, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Maintenance work at Qatar’s al-Shaheen oilfield, the country’s largest offshore oilfield, has pushed back the loading of crude cargoes, operator Maersk Oil said on Tuesday.

“Maersk Oil experienced some shutdowns at our Qatar operations which required an adjustment in cargo offtake,” a Maersk Oil Qatar spokesperson said in an e-mail.

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Maersk’s 33 facilities spread over nine locations at al-Shaheen are subject to normal servicing and maintenance schedules which on occasion are subject to adjustment, the spokesperson said.

The al-Shaheen field is 80 km (50 miles) off Qatar’s coast.

“All customers have been informed. This does not affect our target full year production of around 300,000 b/d (barrels per day),” the spokesperson said.

Qatar produced about 650,000 b/d of crude in August, according to a Reuters survey of production by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Maersk did not say when the shutdowns occurred and whether the issues have been resolved.

The company also did not specify the loading periods affected by the maintenance. But, earlier on Tuesday, traders said that the loading dates from some September and October loading cargoes had been pushed back.

The volume of each cargo loading in September and October will also be trimmed by 5 percent to 475,000 barrels, they said.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Florence Tan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)