(Reuters) – Shell denied Wednesday that it had started discussions to buy his Rival BP, as reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, citing people by the way and stating that the operation was far from being acquired between the two oil groups.
The BP title jumped 6.5% while the Shell action was with 3.3% withdrawn after the publication of the WSJ article.
Saying reacting to market speculations, a Shell spokesman said that no discussion took place with BP.
Asked, a spokesperson for BP has declined a comment request.
Shell’s market capitalization amounted to more than $ 208 billion (178.80 billion euros) on Tuesday, and that of BP, at almost $ 80 million.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the exchanges between those responsible for the two companies are active. BP shows caution in his approach, has written the daily, without being able to specify for the time being the contours of a possible operation which, according to its sources, is far from being acquired.
Asked in recent weeks about the hypothesis of an agreement with BP, the director general of Shell, Wael Sawan, repeated that the group placed the very high bar concerning major acquisitions and that buying actions was a more judicious use of the Shell funds.
(Prerna Bedi in Bangalore; Jean Terzian; edited by Augustin Turpin)
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