Shell Buying Spree Continues
LONDON -- Just a week after buying Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. and two months after acquiring Texaco Inc.'s refining and marketing assets, oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group said it reached a deal to acquire Enterprise Oil Plc, Britain's biggest independent explorer, for $5 billion.
Shell said the buy would help to boost its upstream interests. "This transaction is consistent with our stated strategic direction, and shifts the group portfolio more towards the upstream," Shell Chairman Phil Watts said in the statement.
Italian oil and gas group Eni SpA had widely been touted as the most likely buyer of Enterprise Oil, having previously bought another UK-based independent, Lasmo Oil, Reuters reported.
Enterprise Oil will add around six percent to Shell's oil and gas production and boost its presence in the North Sea as well as in Italy and Brazil.
Shell said the buy would help to boost its upstream interests. "This transaction is consistent with our stated strategic direction, and shifts the group portfolio more towards the upstream," Shell Chairman Phil Watts said in the statement.
Italian oil and gas group Eni SpA had widely been touted as the most likely buyer of Enterprise Oil, having previously bought another UK-based independent, Lasmo Oil, Reuters reported.
Enterprise Oil will add around six percent to Shell's oil and gas production and boost its presence in the North Sea as well as in Italy and Brazil.