Channel News Asia: Shell fears swoop by French oil giant Total: report: “Shell has been shaken by a scandal involving the overestimation of its reserves of oil and gas.” (ShellNews.net)

Posted: 16 August 2004  

LONDON : The Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world's biggest, is bracing itself for a raid by France's Total.

"Insiders ... fear Total will launch a raid," the British Sunday newspaper the Observer said. "Total ... is considered the only predator capable of gaining regulatory approval for what would be a spectacular merger."

With a market capitalisation of 68 billion pounds (125 billion dollars), the Observer said, Total is smaller than Shell, worth 94 million pounds (173 billion dollars).

But Shell has been shaken by a scandal involving the overestimation of its reserves of oil and gas.

Shell and Total both refused to comment and the paper acknowledged that there was "no indication that board members or corporate advisers have spoken about a tie-up."

- AFP