* Huibert Vigeveno to be named BG transition CEO
* Will oversee integration, synergies and layoffs
* Integration expected to take months
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell's topexecutive planning the integration of BG Group willbecome transitional CEO of BG after expected completion of the$48 billion acquisition next month, company sources said.
The appointment of Dutchman Huibert Vigeveno to oversee thecomplex merger of the two global businesses comes as nosurprise.
Vigeveno was appointed last August to spearhead the jointShell-BG integration committee along with BG's Sinead Lynch, andhad previously headed Shell's operations in China and had alsoworked for the Anglo-Dutch company in Brazil, two key marketsfor the combined group.
He is likely to oversee hundreds of job cuts as part of2,800 redundancies already outlined by Shell, which representroughly 3 percent of the combined group's workforce.
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden will head the merged entity afterthe planned Feb. 15 completion of the deal while BG's ChiefExecutive Officer Helge Lund is set to step down on the day themerger is signed.
Implementing cost cuts and successfully integrating the twocompanies will be crucial for Shell, which has had to adapt tothe industry's worst downturn in at least three decades afteroil prices fell by more than 70 percent over the past 18 months.
"The integration of BG Group is the single most criticalprocess for Shell to be successful this year," said Jefferiesanalyst Jason Gammel.
"This will be about knitting the two organisations together... It is an incredibly complex process of putting twoorganisations that were doing the same thing together."
A Shell spokesperson confirmed Vigeveno's appointment astransitional CEO of BG, adding that the appointment isconditional upon, and effective from, completion of therecommended Shell-BG combination.
A BG spokesman declined to comment.
Integration of BG's business and corporate operations isexpected to take many months.
Vigeveno will be tasked with integrating BG's oil and gasproduction and trading operations as well as its corporatebusiness into Shell's much larger operations.
He will also manage the implementation of part of $3.5billion of cost savings and synergies by 2018 which Shell hasidentified in recent months in various segments includingcorporate, administrative and IT operations as well as in oiland gas marketing and shipping costs.
Shell has already started a major restructuring of its oiland gas production, or upstream, operations ahead of the merger.It has established a stand-alone integrated gas business led byMaarten Wetselaar as part of a global upstream organisationunder the direction of current Upstream Director Andrew Brown.An unconventional resources organisation will also be set up.
The deal is largely expected to win the required support ofShell and BG shareholders later this month, even though thesharp decline in oil prices has raised concerns among someinvestors.
BG's current boss Lund, who had previously led Norway'sStatoil through a period of spectacular growth, has yetto indicate his plans for after he steps down.
The merger will add around 20 percent to Shell's oil and gasproduction and will turn it into the world's top LNG trader anda major offshore oil producer with a large focus on Brazil. (Editing by Susan Fenton)