BG GROUP GOT KILLED BY THE OIL PRICE SLUMP

The oil price collapse was one of the biggest stories over the past few months and now we know just how bad this was for BG Group.

The oil and gas explorer, which is being bought by Shell, released a pretty devastating set of first quarter results this morning with BG's earnings collapsing by 41% to £1.03 billion ($1.59 billion). That's over £700 million ($1 billion) less than it made in the same period last year.

Unsurprisingly the damage came from its exploration and production arm, where revenues collapsed by 56%.

It's not hard to see why - BG said the average price it sold its oil tumbled from $108.95 per barrel this time last year to just $52.16.

Still, things are looking up for BG investors. The company has already agreed to sell itself to Shell for £45.32 billion ($70 billion), a deal due to complete next year.

Despite these results, the Shell deal will likely still go ahead. As long as oil stays low the deal makes sense for Shell as buying up BG's assets is more cost effective than trying to find new oil reserves of its own.

Business Insider