en

ornament van ring lucky men imitation Make wedding still further glorious from loersertydass's blog

Royal Dutch Shell to buy BG Group in

Shell said BG Group shareholders would enjoy higher dividends, as it confirmed its intention to pay its existing shareholders $1.88 per ordinary share this van cleef perlee bangle replica year.

That compares with a dividend of just $0.14 that BG Group shareholders can expect to receive this year.

The oil giant also said it expected to commence a share buyback programme in 2017 of at least $25bn.

Shell said it would also provide BG Group shareholders with a "mix and match facility", classic Perlée bracelet fake allowing them to vary how much they receive in cash and new Shell shares.

Shell and BG Group expect to make annual savings of $2.5bn following the deal.

But Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said he remained committed to North Sea oil and expected to invest 4bn between 2016 and 2018.

Shell said the deal would also add 25% to its proven oil and gas reserves and 20% to production capacity, particularly in Australia's liquid natural gas (LNG) market and in deep water oil exploration off the Brazilian coast.

BG Group shareholders will own approximately 19% of the combined group following the deal.

BG Group history

BG Group's roots go back to the 1950s, when it was part of the UK's Gas Council and then British Gas.

British Gas was privatised in 1986.

In 1997 British Gas was demerged into two separate public companies: BG and Centrica.

BG took charge of exploration and production as prlee bracelet replica well as its British transmission and distribution business Transco.

Centrica took over the UK retail business of British Gas.

Another demerger in 2000 created two new public companies: BG Group and Lattice Group with Lattice inheriting the Transco business.

Following the second demerger in 2000, BG Group developed a portfolio of major gas assets, in key countries such as Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, and Kazakhstan as well as the UK's North Sea.

Defensive merger?The deal comes at a time of uncertainty for oil and gas companies. In the past six months the price of oil has fallen by about 50%. Meanwhile, analysts have warned that investment in North Sea oil exploration has all but dried up, threatening the entire industry.

Last month, the Chancellor, George Osborne, lowered the supplementary corporation tax levied against oil companies that operate in the North Sea.

BG Group warned in February that it would write down the value of its oil and gas assets by nearly 6bn ($9bn) due to the oil price slump.

Similarly, Shell announced in January that it would be cutting spending by nearly 10bn over the next three years.

The Wall

No comments
You need to sign in to comment