The logo of oil and gas company Shell is seen at a charging station in Brussels, Belgium November 13, 2024. REUTERS
Dec 16 (Reuters) – Shell’s chief of mergers Greg Gut left the oil major after CEO Wael Sawan and other top executives blocked an internal proposal to buy rival BP this year, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation.
Gut and the M&A team pushed for a deal with BP early this year, which chair Andrew Mackenzie was said to be interested in, but Sawan and finance chief Sinead Gorman felt that challenges from a deal of that scale could derail their strategy, the report said.
In a categorical denial of media reports in June, Shell said that it had not bid for BP, adding it was bound by UK rules, which meant such a statement banned it from bidding for BP for the next six months.
CEO Sawan has repeatedly said buying back Shell shares was a better use of money when asked about a potential bid for BP, whose stock has underperformed its peers markedly since 2020 when its pivot to renewable energy left it lagging behind.
The FT report on Tuesday said Gut had already left Shell by the time the June announcement was made, adding that Sawan’s opposition suggests that Shell was unlikely to pursue a deal for BP when restrictions lift on its ability to bid on December 26.
Shell did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the report outside business hours.
Reuters also reached out to Gut for a comment on LinkedIn, where his profile shows that he is still employed with Shell.
Shell told FT it had “previously made a clear statement” on its lack of interest in BP, and had “nothing to add to it”.
Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka, Prerna Bedi and Angela Christy in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sonia Cheema
