North Sea Crude-Forties steady, surplus barrels dissipating

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - * North Sea Forties crude differentials held largely steady on Tuesday, after two deals went through for cargoes loading in early Feburary.

* A surplus that persisted throughout December appears to be disappearing, with the amount of North Sea crude stored on ships now down to around 2.7 million barrels, from around 9 million barrels a month ago.

* The contango in the swaps curve has steepened this week, but one trading source said the increase was too shallow and freight rates were too high to justify a fresh build in floating barrels.

WINDOW SUMMARY

FORTIES

* Suncor sold Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 6-8 at a discount of 25 cents to dated Brent.

* Mercuria sold Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 2-Feb 4 at a discount of 20 cents to dated Brent.

* Shell bid for a cargo of Forties for loading Feb 5-10 at a discount of 25 cents to dated Brent.

* Shell bid for one cargo of Forties for loading Jan 20-25 at a discount of 20 cents to the dated price and for a second for loading Jan 26-30 at a discount of 25 cents.

* Vitol offered a cargo of Forties for loading Jan 24-26 via STS (Shanghai: 603322.SS - news) at Scapa Flow from the VLCC New Success at a premium of 30 cents to dated Brent.

BRENT/OSEBERG

* Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) withdrew an offer for a cargo of Brent for loading Feb 4-6 at a discount of 5 cents to the dated benchmark.

* Mercuria offered a cargo of Oseberg for loading Jan 31-Feb 2 at a premium of 70 cents to the dated price.

* BP offered a cargo of Oseberg for loading Feb 1-3 at a premium of 75 cents to dated Brent. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Greg Mahlich)