Saturday 09 December 2006
City & Finance Page 95
THE notion of a giant merger between BP and Shell refuses to die down. Broker ABN Amro has run the numbers and reckons a deal could add up to £93bn of value.
A Shell merger with France’s Total would deliver as much, a BP Total combination slightly less.
David Cline of ABN Amro says: `The case for creating an oil mega-major, by merging two European supermajors, is compelling but overlooked by the market.’ He thinks shareholders would gain up to 63pc from a deal.
Could it happen? After BP’s stunning trio of deals (Mobil, Arco, Burmah Castrol) in the late 1990s, US regulators slammed the door on big oil mergers.
It is hard to see a BP-Shell tie-up being cleared in the US without huge disposals.
What the Europeans would make of it is even harder to guess. Competition Eurocrats have intervened even in deals between US companies.
Since they tolerate so many power firms which dominate their local markets, they might buy the idea of a European global champion.
ABN thinks BP and Shell could combine exploration efforts without problems. Refineries and petrol stations are a different matter.
The notion of BP bidding for Shell surfaced during Shell’s reserves fiasco, but did not get far. The two are now more evenly balanced.
Huge obstacles still loom, but as ABN points out, the gains could also be huge.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
