Royal Dutch Shell, the manufacturer of Shell Tellus S2 M 46, has announced that its planned $70bn (£46,200,852,837,605.20) merger with BG Group has been given the final go-ahead by China.
Speaking on Monday, December 14, a spokesperson for Royal Dutch Shell said that the Chinese anti-trust regulators had given unconditional clearance to the proposed merger.
Approval from China was the last hurdle standing between the company and its planned takeover of BG Group, which was announced this April, having just recent received final clearance from the Australian authorities.
The merger had already this year received key approvals from regulators in Brazil, America, and Europe, and the two major oil companies now hope that the merger will be completed sometime early in 2016.
Chinese anti-trust authorities had been pressing Shell to make discounts on long-term gas contracts available prior to the approval, according to industry sources who spoke to Reuters. China, which is the world’s biggest energy consumers, is facing a surplus of supplies as domestic demand for energy continues to fall. Together with BG, Shell would supply around 30% of the country’s natural gas imports by 2017.
Following approval from China, Shell will now try to convince shareholders of both corporations, many of whom are concerned about low energy prices and the volatile state of the oil market, to vote for the merger. If successful, it will make Royal Dutch Shell even more profitable and more able to weather storms than was previously the case.
