Med Crude-Urals streighten further in the northwest Europe at spot tenders

MOSCOW, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Urals crude differential in the northwest Europe rose for a third trading day in a row on Thursday despite weaker refnery margins and plentiful supplies in the region, while traders forecast that the levels for end-December stems should ease.

In tender news, Surgutneftegaz sold in a spot tender 100,000 tonnes of Urals (URL-NWE-E) for loading in December above the recent price estimates for the grade.

The cargo for loading in Ust-Luga on Dec. 12-13 was sold to Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) at a discount of $1.65 barrel to dated Brent, traders told Reuters.

On Wednesday, Poland's biggest refiner PKN Orlen bought from Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) in a spot tender 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude for loading from Primorsk or Ust-Luga between Dec. 20 and 24, while the price remained unclear.

Earlier this week, PKN Orlen awarded Glencore another buy tender for 100,000 tonnes of Urals on Dec. 17-21 at a discount of $1.75 a barrel to dated Brent.

In the Mediteranean the market was relatively calm, as bids and offers were too far apart to spark any buying interest.

In the Platts window, Litasco offered 140,000 tones of Urals loading on Dec. 24-28 at a discount of $0.70 a barrel to dated Brent, traders told Reuters.

On the buy side, Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) continued unsuccessful attempts to buy 80,000 tones of Urals for loading on Dec. 14-18 for the third day in a row. The bid was in line with Thursday's level, at minus $1.20 a barrel to dated Brent.

Saudi Arabia appears to have floated the idea of a global deal to balance oil markets and lift prices from around the lowest levels in six years although fellow producers Iran, Iraq and Russia on Thursday rejected Riyadh's main proposal for cutting output.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said he had an "excellent" informal meeting on Thursday with fellow OPEC ministers but declined further comment, while other ministers said no decision was made.

OPEC holds a formal meeting on Friday and the informal session of members ahead of this was rare, although not unprecedented. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was attended by ministers from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Ecuador, Qatar, Kuwait, Nigeria and Algeria.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said on Thursday that limiting Tehran's production and exports was not a matter for discussion, when asked about media reports that Saudi Arabia was proposing a global deal to rebalance oil markets in 2016. (Reporting by Olga Yagova and Gleb Gorodyankin; Editing by Mark Heinrich)