The Forties Pipeline that carries an estimated 40-45% of liquids output from the UK’s North Sea oilfields to the mainland is expected to return to normal flow rates of some 450,000 bpd by the beginning of the second week in January, ipeline operator Ineos said in its latest update.

On Dec. 11, Ineos closed the pipeline – which it acquired from BP in 2017 –  after a hairline crack was discovered in a section located just south of Aberdeen, Scotland. The closure led prices for Brent crude to surge, due not least to uncertainty about when product might start flowing again. 

A spokeswoman for oil giant Shell told the news agency Reuters that the company is gradually resuming production operations at its Shearwater and Nelson oil and gas platforms in the North Sea. 

In addition to being a key transit route for North Sea oil, the Forties crude blend is the largest component of the Brent-Forties-Oseberg-Ekofisk-Troll (BFOE) complex, which forms the basis for the Brent futures contract.

More than 80 fields feed into the pipeline.