Shell sounds starting gun for more mergers in big oil
By ALEX BRUMMER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
After all the fuss over the appointment and fat cat pay for Helge Lund, the new chief executive of BG, one must wonder why chairman Andrew Gould bothered.
Just weeks after Lund took the reins, assets were written down by £6bn and Gould found himself in cloak and dagger talks with Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden in a hotel room at the Dorchester.
Shell had been closely monitoring BG, the former exploration arm of privatised British Gas, since the final quarter of last year when global oil prices fell off a cliff.
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The future of BP as an independent company was thrown into doubt yesterday as analysts said BG’s takeover will prompt a wave of consolidation in the struggling sector.
BG Group is facing a fresh investor backlash over executive pay in the wake of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s £47billion takeover offer.
