Lord Browne, who is leaving BP this Summer after a string of mishaps, drew up secret plans for a £220bn merger with Shell to create by far the world’s largest oil company.

The merger was discussed informally and papers were produced by BP into the viability of the merger. Lord Browne would have stayed on as chief executive, possibly with a Shell director as chairman.

One source close to the events is quoted by the Telegraph as saying: “Browne tried to buy time by saying that he had one big deal left in him. The big deal was the plan to merge BP with Shell.”

But the plan was never put to Shell nor formally to BP’s board. And instead of pulling of one of the biggest deals in history, Browne enters the history books with a rather blemished record.

3 Comments

  • The BP Shell Merger is to be announced soon in a joint official declaration by BP, Shell directors, most probably end of Summer 2007. This is a well-planned project and will boost productivity, sharing of expertise on safety and exploration and hike the price of shares of both companies.

  • it is very good idea, but i think it will need many studies and preparing to merge two different cultures and strategies.

  • I’m looking forward to see this event happens. It will be the biggest event recorded in the history of oil industry. I will be interested to see how this merge goes with time. It is not a simple merge. there are big differences in culture, strategies and even technical schools. I guess it will lead to a bigger success if the two cultures merged smoothly.

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