The stars never aligned for a grand merger of BP and Shell over the decades, despite the deal being touted regularly as inevitable at some point. How about now?
BP has been torturing itself, its shareholders and the outside world with its on-off green transition plans and its ponderous strategic “re-sets”. Not even a hard kick from the activist boot of Elliott Management has enlivened an underperforming share price. In the background, the oil price is on the slide, which is traditionally when boardroom thoughts turn to deal-making in search of easy cost-cutting wins.
