BG Group

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Shell & BG One Company After Today, Shell Ponies Up $14.4B Cash
February 12, 2016February 12, 2016

The last major hurdle has been scaled in the Shell buyout of BG–the largest such oil and gas deal since Exxon bought Mobil in 1999. Yesterday the High Court of Justice in England and Wales approved the merger. Previously Shell stockholders approved the $69.7 billion deal (see Shell Shareholders Vote in Favor of BG Buyout/Merger). Not long after BG stockholders approved it too (see It’s a Deal – BG Shareholders Approve Shell Buyout). Shell canceled a loan it previously arranged, for $14.4 billion to help with the purchase. Instead, the company will use its own hefty piles of cash for the buyout. The unfortunate news is that Shell intends to layoff 10,000 people after the merger is complete–to save money…
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BG Group | BP | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Reliance Industries | Shell | Total

10 Sell-Out Big Oil Companies Support Paris Global Warming Treaty
October 16, 2015October 16, 2015

Eight CEOs from the Gang of 10

In a repugnant and self-serving public relations stunt, the CEOs for 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies are pushing for “an effective climate change agreement to be reached at next month’s 21st session of the United Nations (UN) Conference of Parties to the UN Framework on Climate Change (COP21)” at the meeting being held in Paris in early December. That is, they’re pretending they believe in the total hoax that mankind is causing global warming and therefore all of the nations of the earth, including the United States, should give up their sovereignty to achieve something they have no control over–whether or not global average temps go up more than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Conveniently, most of us won’t be alive to see whether or not that ever happens. Fortunately none of the big oil companies signing this asinine statement are U.S.-based companies, although they all have serious (and large) operations in the U.S. Who are the Gang of 10?…
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BG Group | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Shell

Shell-BG Megamerger Approved by US Federal Trade Commission
June 18, 2015June 18, 2015

Well that was quick! On Tuesday Shell announced they’re received approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to proceed with their buyout/takeover of BG, the former British Gas. You may recall we brought you the news about the Shell-BG deal in April, pointing out at the time the deal is mainly about LNG (see LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger). Getting approval from the FTC this fast is a good sign, according to Shell CEO Ben van Beurden. Shell needs to obtain approval from every country where BG does business–not just the U.S. According to Shell, they’re still on track to complete the merger in “early 2016″…
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BG Group | BP | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Shell | Taxation | Total

Big European Oil Companies Want UN to Slap Carbon Tax on U.S.
June 1, 2015June 1, 2015

The Europeans are sometimes, well, stupid. How else can you explain six large oil companies–BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total–buying into the tax scheme called carbon credits? The six sent a letter (copy below) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) begging the UN to introduce carbon pricing systems and “create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems” that would “reduce uncertainty and encourage the most cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions widely.” This is madness. Create laws that supersede each country’s sovereignty and impose a worldwide tax on carbon–the stuff you breathe out with every breath–as some sort of solution for the imaginary problem of man-made global warming? If the UN does such a thing, it will spell the end of the companies sending the letter! What do you call a company trying to commit economic suicide? Do the investors of these six companies know the heads of those companies are trying to destroy the company and their investments along with it? No wonder Europe is in decline…
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BG Group | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Shell

LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger
April 9, 2015April 9, 2015

It’s an LNG love story. Yesterday Shell announced they are buying BG Group, the former British Gas, for $69.7 billion dollars. To put it in perspective, in 1998 Exxon bought Mobil for $80 billion, forming what is now ExxonMobil. So this is that kind of scale–really really huge. The oil and gas industry is buzzing about the deal. Is this the first of many such consolidations, given the low price of oil? Will the Shell/BG deal impact shale drilling? What does it ultimately mean? We’ll leave it to others to discuss the broader implications. What we always wonder is, how will this affect the Marcellus/Utica? We have a few thoughts. Both Shell and BG have acreage in the Marcellus/Utica. But before we get to that, the first thing to understand about the Shell/BG deal is that it’s about LNG. This merger will make Shell the largest player in the global LNG market–easily twice the size of the nearest competitor…
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BG Group | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil

BG Poaches Statoil CEO Helge Lund with Big Bucks
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

Statoil is a Norwegian oil and gas company that has a number of joint venture deals–along with their own drilling program–in the Marcellus and Utica Shale (see MDN’s list of Statoil stories here). So it was with interest that we noticed a changing of the guard at the top. Statoil CEO Helge Lund was lured away by BG Group. What lured him away? Big money. BG gave Lund a £12m “golden hello” (that’s a roughly $19.4 million signing bonus) and the possibility of annual earnings of £13.5m (or $21.8 million, per year!) if he hits all his targets. BG wanted Lunde bad. We searched and found one reference on MDN to BG–they spent $950 million in 2010 to lock up 654,000 acres of leases here in the U.S., including 186,000 acres in the Marcellus, although they have no active drilling program of their own in the northeast (see Recent Marcellus Shale Joint Venture Deals). What does Lunde’s change from Statoil to BG mean for northeast shale drilling?…
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Anadarko | Atlas Energy | BG Group | Chesapeake Energy | Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | EXCO Resources | Mitsui | Noble Energy | Range Resources Corp | Reliance Industries | Rex Energy | Sumitomo | Talisman Energy | Williams Production

Recent Marcellus Shale Joint Venture Deals
August 19, 2011August 19, 2011

Joint ventures are a common way for oil and gas companies to share risk, expertise and resources. Here is a list of recent deals in the Marcellus shale:

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