London Evening Standard: “OIL GIANT Shell may be off to sunny Spain to boost its depleted oil and gas reserves. At least, that was the whisper in the Square Mile today after reports that the troubled group may be lining up a multi-billion takeover of Repsol.”: "Shell is still getting to grips with the fallout from last year's oil reserves fiasco which resulted in more than 20% wiped off its book value and heads rolling in the boardroom" (ShellNews.net) Posted 15 Jan 05

Mickey Clark

OIL GIANT Shell may be off to sunny Spain to boost its depleted oil and gas reserves. At least, that was the whisper in the Square Mile today after reports that the troubled group may be lining up a multi-billion takeover of Repsol.

Spanish newspaper La Gaceta de los Negocios says Shell is pondering an offer of €23 a share for Repsol, valuing it at £19.3bn. Repsol shares closed yesterday in Madrid at €18.70. Last month, it bought Shell's liquefied petroleum gas operation in Portugal and they are working together in Iran.

Brokers in London treated the report with a fair degree of scepticism and that was reflected in Shell's price, which slipped 2½p to 442¾p. Neither side would comment. Shell is still getting to grips with the fallout from last year's oil reserves fiasco which resulted in more than 20% wiped off its book value and heads rolling in the boardroom.  

The new management has set about restructuring the business, including the complicated ownership structure between the Dutch management of Royal Dutch/Shell and that of the UK arm that makes up Shell Transport and Trading. BP slipped 1½p to 506½p following its fourth-quarter trading update.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/business/articles/timid397003