Shell to shut BG’s head office in Reading

Hague-based LNG giant Shell said it will close BG Group’s head office in Reading by the end of this year following the multi-billion merger that was completed in February.

Shell announced last December that it would conduct a “comprehensive review” of the company’s office footprint in the UK.

“That review has now been completed and the outcome, which is subject to appropriate engagement with employees and employee representatives, has been communicated to staff of the new combined Shell group in the UK,” a Shell spokesman said in an emailed statement to LNG World News.

In a speech given to staff at Thames Valley Park in Reading on Monday, Huibert Vigeveno, Transition CEO of BG said: “We now have the outcomes of the UK Office Footprint Review. One of the review’s recommendations was to consolidate all Shell’s London and South East based operations into Central London. Our intention is therefore to close the Thames Valley Park campus by the end of this year.

“The review also recommended that all Aberdeen-based onshore operations move to the Shell Aberdeen Tullos office, with BG’s offices at Albyn Place closing by the end of this year, and the closure of Shell’s Brabazon House office in Manchester by the end of 2017,”  Vigeveno said.

“We are also planning to open a voluntary redundancy arrangement at Thames Valley Park. At the same time, from today, we will also open up access to all Shell current internal vacancies for all BG employees to have equal access to all the available opportunities in Shell.”

According to the statement, Shell has also informed staff of a proposal to offer a selective voluntary severance (SVS) programme for some UK employees.

This is in the context of the reality of a lower for longer oil price environment, and is not exclusively related to the Shell-BG combination. A similar proposal was communicated to Shell staff in the Netherlands earlier this month, the company said.

“Employees who leave under the proposed UK severance programme would be counted as part of Shell’s previously announced global target of 10,300 staff and direct contractor reductions (7,500 as part of a general efficiency drive and portfolio activity and 2,800 coming through synergies from the BG acquisition). The announcement of the proposed UK SVS programme doesn’t change this overall target,” the statement said.

The BG deal is Shell’s biggest ever acquisition and the largest oil and gas deal since Exxon bought Mobil in 1999. The combination created the world’s largest LNG company with the combined group’s equity LNG capacity expected to be 44 mtpa in 2018, compared to Shell’s 26 mtpa in 2014.