Shell says Brent benchmark works well, no need for big change

LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil benchmark Brent needs no major changes, the head of trading at oil major Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday.

There was no need to add Russian Urals crude to the stream of grades that determine Brent, Mike Muller said.

Fast falling production in the North Sea has triggered discussions how to strengthen the Brent benchmark - made of crude streams Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk - to make it more liquid and avoid manipulation.

Suggestions have ranged from adding Urals, Caspian Sea or Nigerian grades to the list of crude grades that are used to determine Brent.

"The Brent benchmark is working and working well," Muller told the Platts Crude Summit in London. "It does not require major tweaking in the near future".

Shell is one of the world's largest crude traders and one of the most active players in both the North Sea and Urals markets.

Muller said that any European refinery was already free to buy Urals - a crude stream that dwarfs in volume North Sea streams - as a substitute to the Forties grades as they are similar in quality..

"Adding Urals in a formal way is not worth the trouble," said Muller.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso and Dmitry Zhdannikov, editing by William Hardy)