MOSCOW, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Urals crude differential in thenorthwest Europe rose for a third trading day in a row onThursday despite weaker refnery margins and plentiful suppliesin the region, while traders forecast that the levels forend-December stems should ease.
In tender news, Surgutneftegaz sold in a spot tender 100,000tonnes of Urals
The cargo for loading in Ust-Luga on Dec. 12-13 was sold toTotal at a discount of $1.65 barrel to dated Brent,traders told Reuters.
On Wednesday, Poland's biggest refiner PKN Orlen bought from Glencore in a spot tender 100,000 tonnes of Uralscrude for loading from Primorsk or Ust-Luga between Dec. 20 and24, while the price remained unclear.
Earlier this week, PKN Orlen awarded Glencore another buytender for 100,000 tonnes of Urals on Dec. 17-21 at a discountof $1.75 a barrel to dated Brent.
In the Mediteranean the market was relatively calm, as bidsand offers were too far apart to spark any buying interest.
In the Platts window, Litasco offered 140,000 tones of Uralsloading on Dec. 24-28 at a discount of $0.70 a barrel to datedBrent, traders told Reuters.
On the buy side, Shell continued unsuccessful attempts tobuy 80,000 tones of Urals for loading on Dec. 14-18 for thethird 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 globaldeal to balance oil markets and lift prices from around thelowest levels in six years although fellow producers Iran, Iraqand Russia on Thursday rejected Riyadh's main proposal forcutting output.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said he had an "excellent"informal meeting on Thursday with fellow OPEC ministers butdeclined further comment, while other ministers said no decisionwas made.
OPEC holds a formal meeting on Friday and the informalsession of members ahead of this was rare, although notunprecedented. It 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 thatlimiting Tehran's production and exports was not a matter fordiscussion, when asked about media reports that Saudi Arabia wasproposing a global deal to rebalance oil markets in 2016. (Reporting by Olga Yagova and Gleb Gorodyankin; Editing by MarkHeinrich)