Shell is in talks to buy BG Group for $68 billion

Almaty. April 8. Silkroadnews - Oil company Royal Dutch Shell intends to buy British BG Group for $68 billion, reported KazTAG.
«Royal Dutch Shell is in talks to acquire BG Group for about 46 billion pounds ($68 billion) in a deal that will expand the bridgehead Anglo-Dutch group in some of the world's most influential oil provinces and consolidate its dominance in world trade in natural gas", - said in a publication referring to the newspaper Financial Times.
As noted in the article, the price of oil began its rapid decline in June last year, it was expected that the oil sector could face a repeat of mergers and acquisitions, which reorganized the industry in the late 1990s - during a period of low oil prices.
"This has created a large number of current major oil companies such as BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil. Some significant transactions have been implemented: Halliburton, the oil services group, recently bought a competitor Baker Hughes for $35 billion and Repsol of Spain at the end of last year acquired Talisman Energy for $8.3 billion. Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, said last month, that the company may be open to a major transaction"- said the Financial Times.
According to the publication, the acquisition of BG will give Shell «access to significant oil and gas reserves and will allow the company to save money to increase its resource base through exploration, which is becoming more and more expensive".
So, Shell has spent about $6 billion to search for oil at the northern coast of Alaska, but "so far failed to complete any of the well".
"Absorption will also give Shell an opportunity to gain a foothold in the area of ​​the coast of Brazil, which is one of the world's most valuable oil provinces, as well as to purchase a large position in Australia", - the article says.
BG explained that the company made significant progress in negotiations with Shell, although confirmed that there can be no assurance that the Anglo-Dutch giant is ready to make an offer. The company said that in accordance with the Code of mergers and acquisitions in the UK, Shell will have to declare their firm intention to make an offer to BG before May 5, or say that there is no such intention - although the deadline may be extended.
As noted in the article, BG was forced to cut spending in February, which led to a drop in the value of assets of almost $8.9 billion due to a sharp decline in oil prices.