BP and Shell face setback in Germany

BP and Shell are preparing to offer concessions to the German cartel authorities in order to gain regulatory approval for the takeover of the country's two biggest petrol retailers.

Germany's Federal Cartel Office said yesterday that it would block both BP's £4bn takeover of Veba Oil, the owner of the Aral chain of forecourts, and Shell's £1.9bn acquisitions of RWE's oil and petrol retailing interests, unless the two oil majors responded to competition concerns.

BP's takeover of Aral, Germany's biggest petrol retailer with 2,560 stations, would give it about 25 per cent of the German market. When the deal was announced in July, BP's chief executive Lord Browne said he envisaged no regulatory objections.

But Ulf Boege, president of the cartel office, said yesterday: "We have told the two companies that, as things stand, the merger proposals would have to be blocked."

The cartel office said it was concerned about the number of petrol stations that BP would have and its share of the aviation fuel and bitumen markets. BP and Shell have three weeks to come up with acceptable concessions.

A BP spokesman said it was "not in the least bit fazed" by the cartel office announcement. "This is a statement of objections which sets the scene for a discussion between us and the regulators and I am sure we will get into some fairly intense discussions," he added.

Shell said the move was "part of the normal procedure". A spokeswoman added: "Shell and RWE continue their discussions with the cartel office and we are confident that the existing objections can be resolved."