HOUSTON CHRONICLE
By Loren Steffy
January 06, 2009
Will they call it Exxon Mob-ell? Record oil prices in recent years has left some of the world’s largest oil companies, most notably Exxon Mobil, bloated with cash. Now, the sudden drop in prices during the past six months has created a lot of bargains.
That’s causing some analysts to forecast mergers among the majors, similar to what happened in the late 1990s, when BP bought Amoco, Chevron snapped up Texaco, Conoco nabbed Phillips and Exxon acquired Mobil.
As I’ve written before, while Exxon’s earnings have set records, its worldwide production has declined. So Exxon is sitting on a huge pile of cash, it needs access to new reserves and now assets are available at bargain prices.
That’s prompting speculation that it might buy Royal Dutch Shell. Exxon could, as CNN points out, offer a 60 percent premium, in cash, for every Shell share, taking out its second largest competitor in the process.
Of course, it would be far easier for Exxon to buy smaller independents, such as XTO, Chesapeake or the industry’s perennial producer-in-waiting Anadarko. Or it may simply buy properties and avoid merger issues completely.
Even so, the mere speculation of an Exxon-Shell pairing is giving rise to talk of how the European Union would respond. Perhaps BP will dust off its interest in acquiring Shell.
The benefits of consolidation have become compelling, as analysts like to say. All of which means that thiscould be another year of mega mergers. Unlike most mergers, the oil industry parings of a decade ago have been, for the most part, good for shareholders.
Will we see another round? Do major mergers make sense? Would the benefits outweigh the drawbacks such as regulatory hurdles?
SOURCE ARTICLE WITH POSTED COMMENTS
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.
