China Clears Way for Global LNG Giant

摘要

The last and biggest hurdle to the creation of a global LNG giant vanished last week when China gave the green light to Royal Dutch Shell's purchase of BG, eight months after the merger was announced. Concerns the Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) might attach conditions or insist on asset sales, as it did with Glencore's acquisition of Xstrata in 2013, proved unfounded (WGI Jun.10'15). Mofcom's unconditional approval means Shell and BG are free to close the transaction, but it's possible Shell made "informal commitments" to ensure the ministry did not impose formal remedies or to allay concerns expressed by customers and rivals. "That would be rather unusual, in particular because Mofcom would likely prefer to have firm official commitments that it can monitor, but it is certainly a possibility," a Beijing-based competition lawyer tells WGI.