North Sea Crude-Forties steady as BP buys; Brent offered at three-month low

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - North Sea Forties differentials held steady on Thursday, having turned positive this week for the first time in February on the receding oil supply overhang, while Ekofisk and Brent came under fire in the daily trading window.

* Litasco withdrew an offer for a cargo of March-loading Brent at the lowest level in three months, while BP snapped up another two cargoes of Forties, bringing its total number of March cargoes to four, Reuters calcuations show.

* The volume of Forties crude stored on ships has dropped to about 3 million barrels, down from a little more than 10 million at the start of the month, as the contango in the dated Brent structure has winched in.

* The VLCC Trikwong Venture is at Hound Point and scheduled to load Forties for South Korea, bringing the number of supertankers making the trip this month to three, Reuters shipping data shows.

* April loading programmes are due next week.

WINDOW SUMMARY

FORTIES:

* Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) sold a cargo to BP for loading Mar 22-24 at a premium of 15 cents to dated Brent.

* Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) sold BP a cargo for loading Mar 19-21 at a premium of 10 cents to the dated price.

* Unipec sold Petroineos a Mar 16-18 cargo at a discount of 5 cents to dated Brent.

* Unipec offered a cargo for loading Mar 9-11 at parity with dated Brent.

* ENI (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) bid for a cargo for loading Mar 22-24 at 10 cents above the dated price.

EKOFISK:

* Unipec offered a cargo loading Mar 12-14 at 10 cents above dated Brent.

* Gunvor offered a Mar 10-12 cargo at 5 cents above the dated price.

* Vitol bid for a cargo loading Mar 19-21 at 20 cents above dated Brent.

* Shell offered a Mar 7-9 cargo at parity with dated Brent.

BRENT:

* Litasco offered a cargo for loading Mar 7-9 at a discount of 70 cents to the the dated benchmark price.

* Petroineos bid for a cargo for loading Mar 20-25 at a premium of 15 cents to the dated price.

* Shell withdrew an offer for a Mar 11-13 cargo at a discount of 30 cents to the dated price.

* The average of the qualifying trades, bids and offers means Brent was the lowest-priced crude and set the level of the dated benchmark. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by David Goodman)