LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The chief executive of one of theworld's biggest firms Royal Dutch Shell warned onSunday that the oil and gas company would be negatively impactedwere Britons to back leaving the European Union in a referendum.
Prime Minister David Cameron is renegotiating his country'smembership of the 28-member trading bloc and could reach a dealwith EU partners at a summit next month, paving the way for apublic vote as soon as June.
Chief Executive Ben van Beurden told the Sunday Timesnewspaper that the Anglo-Dutch firm, which is currently seekingshareholder approval for its bid to acquire Britain's BG Group, could suffer were Britain to leave the bloc.
"We are a company with a strong heritage in the UK and onthe Continent. There would be a real break between the two,which would affect freedom of movement of staff, trade - wewould be impacted," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"There will be a path of divergence, and that will have allsorts of inefficiencies. That's not good for companies like oursthat thrive by there being no barriers. That is a fundamentaleconomic aspect of it."
Several large British businesses have spoken out in favourof the EU, often due to tariff-less trade which they benefitfrom, although many smaller firms have criticised the bloc forimposing what they argue are costly regulations.
Van Beurden also said the firm's $48 billion bid for BGGroup, which has faced shareholder criticism as the oil pricedrops to a 12-year low, made sense and that he hoped that itwould be approved by more than a "narrow margin."
"This deal makes sense if over the next 20-30 years the oilprice is above the low $60s. At that level it is valueaccretive. I think that's an entirely reasonable, sensible riskto take," he said. (Reporting By Costas Pitas; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)