North Sea Crude-Forties edges higher, Shell move mulled

* Forties bid up to dated plus 40 cents * Market gives cautious welcome to Shell move * BP agrees to trade on amended terms LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - North Sea Forties crudedifferentials edged higher on Monday, although no cargoes tradedas sellers remained on the sidelines. Traders were still digesting Royal Dutch Shell's move late on Friday to amend the terms and conditions of SUKO90, which governs how forward BFOE cargoes are traded. Shell said its implementation of a "quality premium" fordeals in Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk crudes was aimed atbolstering liquidity. Most traders Reuters spoke to gave a cautious welcome to themove. "The proposal seems to be reasonable," one said. "Itshould mean more of all the BOE grades are delivered," anothersaid. BP also said it had agreed to trade on the amendedterms. However, one or two expressed reservations, worried that itmight be more difficult for refiners to hedge under the newterms, and some analysts were sceptical. "It is not immediately clear to us why the quality premiumfor Ekofisk varies strongly from the other two grades,particularly given that the differentials for Ekofisk andOseberg have behaved similarly over recent years," analysts atJBC Energy said. FORTIES * There were no deals in the window, with only two biddersand no offers. * Total bid for cargoes loading Mar. 1-10, ending at datedplus 20 cents. Mercuria was targeting Mar. 4-6 loading dates,ending at dated plus 40 cents. * These bids fell either side of Friday's deal, which wasagreed at dated plus 25 cents for Mar. 1-3 dates. * A Forties cargo loading March 8-10 was said to have beenchained by BP, then kept by Shell. SWAPS * The backwardation at the front end of the curve narrowed atouch: 18-22/2 May +157 25-01/3 May +149 4-8/3 May +130 11-15/3 May +105 18-22/3 May +80 25-28/3 May +61 DATABASE