By Muhammad Ali Khawar on Jul 15, 2016 at 10:04 am EST
Royal Dutch Shell plc. (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) finally closed its $52 billion merger with BG group in February. The deal is considered as one of the largest mergers in the oil and gas sector and is expected to help Shell diversify its operations and benefit from cost synergies.
The Shell-BG merger comes at a time when oil prices have plummeted significantly. Oil prices that once traded over $110 per barrel have now tumbled to as low as $50 per barrel. Last year, when Shell approached BG for the first time, many criticized the deal especially because of the 50% premium Shell was willing to pay in a depressed crude environment.