Monday July 16, 2007

BP and Shell in merger talks (?)

peakoil.com -> energy.seekingalpha.com -> business.timesonline.co.uk, thisismoney.co.uk :

BP and Royal Dutch Shell are said to be in merger talks that would create a GBP 250 billion oil giant, according to the Times of London. "The City is awash with talk that Britain's two largest oil companies have engaged financial advisors to discuss terms for a so-called friendly merger that could result in GBP 2.5 billion of cost savings for the enlarged group," it wrote. It says BP, under previous CEO Lord Browne, was thought to have approached Shell last year, and that those plans have now been rekindled under current CEO Tony Hayward.

According to website This is Money, company advisors and executives are involved in 'round the clock' negotiations. It says the combined entity would produce over 70% more oil and gas than industry leader ExxonMobil.

- Not sure how true this is. But it would not be entirely unexpected among the peakoil community. The oil majors have got big problems to deal with - resource depletion, and resource natonalization.

See also :

1. Big oil is getting pushed around
2. BP loses appeal against Russian oil field seizure
3. Russia - the rising energy superpower (Shell, Sakhalin 2)

(2007-07-16 12:44:52 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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