Tullow Oil said to be bid target for Shell; talk of Shell takeover of BP resurfaces
Royal Dutch Shell, an FTSE-100 oil company, was said to have been thinking about making an offer for the listed Anglo-Irish exploration and production company Tullow Oil, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper’s market report section did not cite a source for the rumour.
The item noted that Shell CEO Ben van Beurden this week said the Anglo-Dutch group would be opportunistic in its approach to mergers and acquisitions of exploration companies.
Separately, The Times’ Tempus section mentioned renewed gossip that Shell will acquire FTSE-100 rival BP, but did not cite a source for the rumour. However, the report argued that such a deal will not happen.
The Financial Times item said shares in the major listed oil companies gained on talk that a large transatlantic deal is on the horizon. However, the newspaper added that no companies or sectors were specified in that rumour.
Tullow Oil’s share price closed 14.1p up at 365.0p in London on Friday, 30 January, giving the company a market capitalisation of GBP 3.32bn (EUR 4.42bn).
Financial Times, The Times