Shell and BP shares rose roughly 3% on Thursday, while US majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron were more muted, up 1.1% and 0.6% respectively.
Our daily email brings you smart and engaging news and analysis on the biggest stories in business and finance. For free.
Rather than jockeying for an advantage in their weakened state, the two longtime rivals are set to work together more and more.
A megamerger of this sort would vault Shell’s market cap closer to ExxonMobil’s $468 billion and likely beyond Chevron’s $248 billion.
Last week the Big Oil companies weighed in with their earnings reports, and it was mostly a pretty sorry assembly.
Oil giants Chevron and BP made moves to refine their business, drilling down on core segments that crude demand assures will be worth it.