Australia: Shell-BG merger receives $20 billion antitrust clearance

The US$70 billion Shell and BG Group mega merger received antitrust clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

This leaves the group with remaining pre-conditional clearances from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and China’s Ministry of Commerce.

“The filing process in China continues to progress well and the combination remains on track for completion in early 2016,” commented Shell CEO, Ben van Beurden.

“The Shell BG combination is a sign of Shell’s confidence in the Australian economy. It’s also a springboard to change Shell into a simpler, more profitable and resilient company in a world where oil prices could remain low for some time,” he said.

During its review, the ACCC considered whether the proposed acquisition would reduce the supply of gas, or reduce competition to supply gas to domestic customers by aligning Shell’s interest in Arrow Energy with BG’s LNG facilities in Queensland.

“The ACCC concluded that as Arrow is not currently focused on supplying domestic customers, and appears unlikely to be so in the future, aligning Arrow with an LNG operator would not change competition for the supply of gas to domestic customers,” said Rod Sims, chairman, ACCC.

Full content: Bloomberg

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