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Reflecting on the demise of the BG Group

Printed below are recent intriguing comments posted on our Shell Blog about events and individuals at BG Group after it was infiltrated by Shell years prior to the $70 billion acquisition. The largest oil industry merger for nearly 20 years.

POSTED COMMENTS

BogusGroup: 2017/05/03 at 3:23 pm

BG Group was founded on very little credible geoscience. Frank Chapman’s precious ‘treasures’. Technically inept staff promoted to heady heights as a reward for longevity, loyalty and willingness to play corrupt corporate games. Probity was a word never heard in the corridors of the pavilions of Thames Valley Park. As long as there was production and accompanying revenue stream it didn’t matter if they understood where it came from or not. Life was a continuous garden party on a ‘Knight to be remembered’!

BogusGroup: 2017/04/28 at 5:21 pm

Then there was the BG Townhall meeting late in 2014 when the COO, Sami Iskander stood up and said the the company had spent £200MM assuring projects which later cost the company £2BN because the assurance process was flawed and broken. Too many lunches at the Bull in Sonning and 10k runs on the Thames towpath!

TotallyHackedOff: 2017/04/25 at 6:44 am

I guess what we have all realised is that Shell and BG (as with most other big, ancient blue chips) hire based on personality traits- alpha males and females , in the vain hope that they create healthy competition and motivation amongst the lower job groups who aspire to lead bigger teams with more control (power). What has happened however as witnessed in the current downturn is the malingering presence of alpha’s who cling on to their jobs whilst the collaborative team players doing the grunt work are let go. Can’t blame them too much as we all wish to survive but what it does is erode integrity and authenticity- behavioural traits, codes of conduct and company value can only but be destroyed with this sort of crappy culture. Anyone who has been let go from Shell- trust me, it’ll be the best thing that’s happened to you.

Old Fossil:

BogusGroup talks of Shell ‘pets’. BG had it’s own, particularly in its Brasil Asset where some were gingerly sucking their way-up the rigid, masculine corporate pole. Others were more coprolite than corporate.

OnTheStreet: 2017/04/18 at 4:53 pm

Finlayson was clearly a Shell plant, who was supposed to oversee the sale of BG Group to Shell. There was a pseudo competition as to who would be the next CEO after Frank Chapman, but it was clear from the outset that it could only ever be Finlayson. However, he got too comfortable in the role, had a falling-out with Andrew Gould and left in a huff, probably because he did not want to sell to Shell. This left Gould holding the baby when the share price was rock bottom. One might ask one’s self why did Shell not pounce when Gould was Executive Chairman? He desperately needed a CEO to oversee the sale to Shell,and he eventually set-up Helge Lunde as his ‘fall guy’ as the whole house of cards was rapidly falling down. Even demanding that Helge start with BG Group earlier than planned. The whole scenario was transparent from the outset. And what of Andrew Gould? Is it not rather odd that the previous Chairman and CEO of Schlumberger should end-up as Chairman of a tin pot outfit like BG Group? Or, perhaps, he thought that by working for a British plc he might be in with a chance of a Knighthood? And what better way of getting a Knighthood than by selling a failing company and, thereby, achieving shareholder value.He knew where BG Group was in its life cycle and also when Frank Chapman was due to retire. With the limited truths upon which BG had built its foundations, it was a safe bet that the illusion would fail sooner or later.

Many more comments about the BG Group can be found on the Shell Blog.

Please note this posting by “BogusGroup” added 2017/05/03 at 6:49 pm

I posted articles on 16th & 17th April. I did not post the articles 28th April (BonusGroup) and 3rd May @15.23 (BogusGroup). While I wholeheartedly agree with the content of both of these articles, I can’t take credit for them.

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