North Sea Crude-Forties edges lower, excess oil weighs on market

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 10 (Reuters) -

* Forties differentials eased on Monday, nearing last week's four-month lows, in spite of a rise in Brent futures to their highest in a year, as excess supply tempered any recovery in the price of physical barrels.

* A surplus of North Sea crude in floating storage and stiff competition from other grades such as Russian Urals has kept Forties under pressure. The premium Forties differentials command over those for Urals has fallen to its lowest in two months from last week's nine-month peak at $11.7 a barrel.

* Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) offered a cargo of Forties via ship-to-ship transfer from the Calida in the daily trading window for the fifth time in the last two weeks, but met with no buyers.

* The VLCC Ridgebury Pride, which was originally chartered by Exxon to take Forties to South Korea, has been anchored off the UK port of Southwold for the last two weeks.

* Brent crude futures rallied to their highest in a year on Monday, after Saudi Arabia said a deal to limit supply could materialise next month in Vienna and non-OPEC rival Russia said it was ready to join any effort to freeze output.

* The rally in the flat price helped push refinery margins for Forties (FOT-NBK-NWE) to their highest since February and for Ekofisk, which usually commands a higher price, to their highest in 11 months (EKO-NBK-NWE).

* In flows, Reuters shipping data showed Vitol has booked the VLCC Tianjin to load Forties late next week, while Unipec has booked the supertanker Cospearl Lake to load the same crude in the last week of the month. Both vessels are tentatively scheduled to sail to South Korea.

* BP has booked the Eagle Sapporo, an Aframax, to load at a Norwegian crude at Sture, bound for the U.S. east coast.

WINDOW SUMMARY

* Trafigura bid for a cargo of Forties for loading Nov. 8-12 at a discount of 50 cents to dated Brent.

* Shell offered a cargo of Forties for loading Oct. 21-30 via STS at Scapa Flow from the Calida at a discount of $2.10 to cash BFOE.

* Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) offered a cargo of Forties for loading Oct. 29-31 at 70 cents below the dated price.

* BP bid for a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Nov. 4-8 at a discount of 30 cents to dated Brent.

* Total offered a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Oct. 29-31 at parity with dated Brent.

* Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) offered a cargo of Ekofisk for loading Oct. 25-27 at 25 cents below the dated price.

* Shell bid for a cargo of Oseberg for loading Oct. 27-Nov. 4 at a premium of 45 cents to dated Brent.

* BP sold Shell a cargo of Brent for loading Nov. 1-3 at a discount of 50 cents to the dated benchmark price. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by David Evans)