Despite an anemic market for upstream assets, Western majors are continuing to embark on multibillion-dollar divestment programs as low oil prices exacerbate already hefty funding gaps (p2). Royal Dutch Shell is trimming its portfolio ahead of its mega $82 billion acquisition of BG, . while the group more broadly sells off assets to cover capital expenditure and shareholder distributions — and also maintain strong balance sheets, which analysts at Moody's say remain "a competitive advantage in dealing as a partner of choice with foreign governments and state oil companies in both upstream and downstream projects" (EIF Aug. 19'15). Yet with Shell's marriage to BG an outlier in an otherwise near-silent upstream M&A market, the majors have offloaded various pieces of their midstream and downstream businesses to keep divestment programs rolling, an EI Finance analysis of 1 Derrick M&A data found (EIF Jul.29'15).
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机译：尽管上游资产市场表现疲软，但西方石油巨头仍在着手进行数十亿美元的撤资计划，因为低油价加剧了本已巨大的资金缺口（p2）。荷兰皇家壳牌公司（Royal Dutch Shell）在斥资820亿美元收购BG之前，正在削减其投资组合。而该集团更广泛地出售资产以支付资本支出和股东分配，并维持稳健的资产负债表，穆迪分析师认为，“与上游两个国家的外国政府和国有石油公司作为首选合作伙伴交易时，仍具有竞争优势。和下游项目”（EIF，2015年8月19日）。 EI Finance对1份Derrick并购数据的分析发现，随着壳牌公司与BG的婚姻在原本就近乎沉默的上游并购市场中显得异常，大公司已将其中游和下游业务的各个部分分流，以保持撤资计划的进行。 29'15）。
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