Interesting video on a possible Shell BP merger. What are your thoughts?
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Shell BP merger
- Thread starter BobsArmory
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Really the only option left for BP besides being dismantled / PE purchase.
It works rather well politically speaking, with both being (RDS at least partially) British companies.
Their assets are a bit opposing. And it would get Shell back heavily into the refinery business again.
It would create a headache for light ends marketers in the gas station / c-store business. As they share markets a lot. But nothing that isn’t new - it happened when BP bought Amoco.
Shell is probably the only major with the financial backing to make the deal happen.
Edit:
Castrol industrial has been pretty much dying on the vine since everyone left to create BlueStar.
I understand Le (author of the video) isn’t in the U.S. market. I’ll see him in 2 weeks anyways and see if I can have this conversation with him.
But in the scheme of the PCEO business. Castrol isn’t a major player out side of factory oil & DIY. With the DIY market shrinking, I don’t see it as a competitor to Shells brands. But as I said in other replies, castrol is just sort of lost right now. And this tracks with BP over all.
It works rather well politically speaking, with both being (RDS at least partially) British companies.
Their assets are a bit opposing. And it would get Shell back heavily into the refinery business again.
It would create a headache for light ends marketers in the gas station / c-store business. As they share markets a lot. But nothing that isn’t new - it happened when BP bought Amoco.
Shell is probably the only major with the financial backing to make the deal happen.
Edit:
Castrol industrial has been pretty much dying on the vine since everyone left to create BlueStar.
I understand Le (author of the video) isn’t in the U.S. market. I’ll see him in 2 weeks anyways and see if I can have this conversation with him.
But in the scheme of the PCEO business. Castrol isn’t a major player out side of factory oil & DIY. With the DIY market shrinking, I don’t see it as a competitor to Shells brands. But as I said in other replies, castrol is just sort of lost right now. And this tracks with BP over all.
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Just read about this on LinkedIn today from a CVX contact. Shell supposedly looking to expand their LNG operations but there’s big regulatory issues & a culture difference between the companies.
Yeah the regulatory headache is going to be huge for anyone. But only shell has the real political will power to do it. And yes, the cultural differences are huge.
If BP is going to stay “mostly whole” Shell is still the only name in the game.
Like in the U.S., they would have divest a huge amount of assets. Like gas stations since BP/Amacos are on every corner. And Shells are across the street. That wouldn’t be allowed to stay as is.
Shell divested their refinery assets. So that’s at least a benefit there. But there would be a lot of regulatory things that would need to be over come. Assets shed off. And the corporate culture shift would be… yeah, enormous.
I don’t see an issue with the gas station branding. Just a few blocks from my house is a mobile with an Exxon a block past it. Used to have a Texaco across the street from a Chevron back in SLO. Both did well but were separate franchises. Corporate stores likely won’t work like that.
Think regaining refineries & NG assets is what Shell is after
Mergers/Buyouts etc. are never a good idea.
We don't need more conglomerates than we already have.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Shell is in early discussions to acquire BP. The WSJ piece is behind a paywall.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-early-talks-buy-bp-wsj-reports-2025-06-25/
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/shell-in-early-talks-to-acquire-rival-bp-2233591a
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-early-talks-buy-bp-wsj-reports-2025-06-25/
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/shell-in-early-talks-to-acquire-rival-bp-2233591a
FT says that it’s not accurate. Who knows?
We could have GTL Intelligent Molecules!
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I wonder if that would be rebranding BP stations as Shell to consolidate marketing efforts, or if they would still maintain both names for retail.
Also would be interesting to see how Castrol would be marketed alongside Quaker State and Pennzoil. Lots of overlap between Castrol and Pennzoil...
Also would be interesting to see how Castrol would be marketed alongside Quaker State and Pennzoil. Lots of overlap between Castrol and Pennzoil...
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Have you seen anything about Castrol taking a bigger share of quick lubes? We have 2 Mobil quicklubes here that are now Castrol brand with new signage and everything. Happened almost overnight.
BP is being pushed by activist investors who want them to sell the castrol brand and lubricant business as a whole. Probably those in charge have been given marching orders to polish that business up for sale, which probably includes trying to lure more commercial customers they can bribe in with some short term benefits which they amortize on their books to make it look better than they are.
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Their pricing per jug on Amazon and at Walmart recently decreased to $23.xx as well, positioning them under Mobil 1 and Valvoline, when typically they were in lock-step or even slightly more. Wonder if that's the same push, to increase sales in the short-term right now.
I noticed that also - on the conventional side. GTX conventional is down to $20.58 a 5 quart, which puts in closer to the Havoline box price. I prefer Chevron but I don't like storing the box, so was thinking of trying it. I still use conventional or semi in my Xterra.
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Yup, I should have specified that I was talking about Edge, but I did notice that for GTX as well. And then if you look at Walmart's pricing for GTX Full Syn versus regular Edge, Edge literally only costs one penny more per jug...
I suspect that is more because Mobil is weak right now in that market, then castrol being particularly strong.
A lot of that has to do with the local marketers. For example, in my area - Valvoline is super strong in the quick lube market. And there’s essentially no other brand (currently) out there besides Reladyne or various house brands (like mine) for owners that don’t rest on the brand of oil.
Valvoline’s pricing out there is borderline crazy in my opinion. Especially some pricing I’ve seen from more competitive markets like Atlanta and Houston.
But the PCEO installer market ebs and flows like that. I think you’ll see other majors that are ignoring the PCEO market currently, return to it. As they need the volume.
Majority of the quick lubes here in Houston metro are Valvoline... whether it be VIOC or various other brands. VIOC has acquired quite a few indies recently... mostly Kwik Kar franchises. Jiffy Lube is of course PZ, and there are a small amount of other indie PZ quick lubes. Take5 of course pours Reladyne junk, very few Mobil, and I have only seen one or two that pour Castrol.
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