Shell in talks to buy rival BP in potential blockbuster oil deal: report

Shell is in early talks to buy rival BP, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.BP’s American depository shares were up 6.5%, while Shell’s were down 3.3%.Talks between company representatives are active and BP is considering the approach carefully, the report added.BP was valued at nearly $80 billion as of Wednesday while Shell had a market capitalization of over $208 billion.“As we have said many times before, we are sharply focused on capturing the value in Shell through continuing to focus on performance, discipline and simplification,” a Shell spokesperson said.A BP spokesperson declined to comment.Potential terms of any deal could not be learned and a tie-up is far from certain, the report said.Shell CEO Wael Sawan has repeatedly said in recent weeks that Shell had a very high bar for big acquisitions and buying back Shell shares was a better allocation of money when asked about the possibility of a BP deal....