Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Acquires Forties Crude from Trafigura, Shell (NYSE:RDS-A), BP (NYSE:BP) Also Buy North Sea Grade

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) acquired Forties cargo from Trafigura Beheer BV, the third acquisition they made of the North Sea grade this week.

The latest acquisition by Morgan Stanley was for October 11 to October 14, paying a premium of 10 cents over Dated Brent, according to the financial institution.

For BP, their acquisition was from Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE:RDS-A) for October 7 to October 9 loading. They paid close to 30 cents above Dated Brent, which was 19 cents below the cash cost of North Sea oil.

Shell purchased Forties from Total SA (NYSE:TOT) for October 4 to October 6, paying 20 cents above Dated Brent, according to the two companies.

The November settlement for Brent crude traded at $77.65 a barrel, while the December contract traded at $77.97, generating a contango of 32 cents between the two contracts. Both were in reference to the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

BNP Paribas Slashes Oil Estimate to $80 a Barrel

Citing the ongoing weak economies in the West, BNP Paribas cuts its oil price estimate to $80 a barrel, down from its prior projection of $82 a barrel for 2010.

Paribas also cut its 2011 oil price target from $89 a barrel to $86 a barrel.

With oil settling at $76.80 a barrel, and nothing out there to suggest economics in the West will improve any time soon, the $80 a barrel downward revisement for 2010 may even be optimistic.

An ongoing contango situation suggests to Paribas that oil will probably be stored on tankers rather than brought to market.