NSea Crude-Steady despite Shell offers of Forties

* Forties sold: Shell/M.Stanley July 16-18 at Sep -$1.40

* Shell offers July 16-27 Forties ex-floating storage

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - North Sea Forties crude oil
differentials held steady on Monday despite the release from
floating storage of the equivalent of three cargoes for second
half July and several other offers by Shell of July barrels.

Shell has built up substantial reserves of Forties cargoes
for July and at one point held more than half the entire month's
loading allocations, traders say. Several of these cargoes have
gone into Shell's own system, but others are now appearing on
the market.

REFINING MARGINS <REF/MARGIN1>

* Complex margins for Brent improved slightly on Monday to
around plus $2.15 per barrel, from about $1.90 on Friday, but
are still below the average over the last five days of about
$2.30, Reuters refining models show.

FORTIES FOT-E

* Within the afternoon trading window, Shell offered a July
16-18 Forties cargo down to September BFOE minus $1.40 per
barrel and sold to Morgan Stanley at that level, after having
earlier offered it as high as September minus 90 cents.

* The deal was equivalent to around dated minus 20-25 cents,
slightly stronger than the last reported Forties deal last week
at dated minus 35 cents.

* Shell also offered Forties crude from floating storage via
ship-to-ship transfer from the vessel Maersk Noble for the
period July 16-27, starting at September minus 90 cents, as well
as cargoes for July 15-17 and July 21-23, also starting at
September minus 90 cents.

* Total bid as much as dated BFOE minus 25 cents for a cargo
loading July 24-28.

NORWEGIAN GRADES

* Norwegian state-controlled producer StatoilHydro offered
four cargoes on Monday:

- Two Statfjords for loading July 26 and July 30 at dated
BFOE plus $1.05, unchanged from Friday

- A Gullfaks for loading around July 30 at dated BFOE plus
$1.70 (new)

- A Troll for loading end-July/early-August at dated plus
$2.30, also unchanged from Friday

SWAPS

* CFDs were assessed at the following levels at 1530 GMT

13-17/7 Sep -123

20-24/7 Sep -111

27-31/7 Sep -98

3-7/8 Sep -82

10-14/8 Sep -66

17/21/8 Sep -50

ICE MINUTE MARKER

The ICE set its August Brent afternoon marker at $64.07 per
barrel on Monday, down from $65.84 on Friday.
(Reporting by Christopher Johnson; editing by James Jukwey)