Shell’s mega-merger with BG Group will trigger more industry consolidation
Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden (left) and BG’s Andrew Gould confirmed the deal on 8 April. (PA)
The deal was reportedly hatched after a phone call from Shell’s Chief Executive Ben van Beurden to BG Group’s chairman Andrew Gould on 15 March. It went ahead 24 days later. BG’s Chief Executive Helge Lund had been in his new job for less than 60 days.
Shell’s £47 billion ($70 billion) acquisition of BG is all about gas, and is likely to transform the industry’s playing field. The combined company will be the biggest on the UK’s FTSE index, and could potentially rival the liquefaction capacity of companies such as Qatargas when the new LNG plants being built by Shell and BG are delivered.