World Bulletin / News Desk

 Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy BG Group for 47 billion pounds ($70 billion) in the first oil super-merger in a decade. The BG Group is a British multinational oil and gas company.

In a joint statement, the two firms said that as part of the recommended deal Shell would pay 383 pence in cash and 0.4454 Shell B shares for each BG share. It said this represented a premium of around 52 percent to the 90 trading day average.

The deal will result in BG shareholders owning around 19 percent of the combined group.