from AFR
East coast gas buyers Royal Dutch Shell has won unconditional approval from the competition regulator for its $US70 billion takeover of BG Group, in a decision that is set to heighten concerns among east coast gas buyers that more gas will be sent offshore.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said given Shell's Arrow Energy affiliate in Queensland wasn't currently focused on supplying customers within the state, and was unlikely to do so in future, the acquisition wouldn't change competition in gas supply on the east coast.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims noted the numerous submissions it had received from parties concerned about the takeover and said the regulator had considered several potential conditions that could be imposed on the deal.
"The ACCC can, however, only accept undertakings where competition concerns arise from the acquisition and it finds that certain undertakings can effectively address those concerns," Mr Sims said in a statement on Thursday.
"In this case, the ACCC did not find merger-specific competition concerns that required an undertaking to remedy."
He said creating an effective undertaking that Shell would have to abide by "would have been extremely difficult in any event".
The decision comes just days after a decision was made to build a pipeline to deliver gas from the Northern Territory into the Queensland market, which Mr Sims said was welcome to increase supply.
Any comments on how this effect CB players wanting to get their gas to Gladstone ???
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