North Sea Crude-North Sea producers continue consolidation

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - North Sea crude differentials were stable on Friday, while producers in the North Sea continued to consolidate. NEWS * Spain's Repsol is in talks to merge its UK North Sea oil and gas business with private equity-backed NEO Energy, three industry sources said, the latest consolidation by companies operating in the basin amid greater tax pressures. * A merger would create a company with output of more than 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, making it one of the largest producers in the ageing basin. * Trading houses Trafigura and Gunvor bought nine cargoes of crude that underpin the international Brent benchmark in the last week and bid for more, helping to drive the steepest gains since a change in the way it was assessed in 2023. * Trafigura has bought seven cargoes since June 21 - four WTI cargoes on that day and two more this week, plus a Forties cargo on Thursday. Gunvor bought Forties and WTI cargoes on Monday. PLATTS WINDOW * Indications are on a free-on-board (FOB) basis unless marked as cost, insurance and freight (CIF) or delivered at place (DAP). * No deals, bids, or offers were seen by Reuters in Friday's expiry session. * On Thursday, Trafigura had bought a Forties cargo with July 9-13 dates from Total at dated Brent plus $2.60 CIF Rotterdam, equating to around dated plus $1.32 on a FOB basis, according to Reuters calculations. * In the previous session, Trafigura had bid CIF Rotterdam July 16-21 at dated plus $2.20 and there were offers from Glencore and Aramco at dated plus $2.40. * The midpoint of dated plus $2.30 had equated to around dated plus $1.14 on a FOB basis, according to Reuters calculations, and WTI therefore set the dated Brent benchmark as the cheapest grade in the basket. (Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Richard Chang)