July 19 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell, which is allset to acquire rival BG Group Plc, may cut its capitalexpenditure for the year by several billion dollars from thepreviously announced $33 billion figure, the Financial Timesreported on Sunday, citing sources.
A substantial cut to this year's capital investment mightbe outlined during the company's interim results on July 30, thenewspaper said.(http://on.ft.com/1fVVwqU).
The paper said the Anglo-Dutch energy company had also toldinvestors that the BG deal works with crude oil at $70 perbarrel, citing much greater synergies which will likely exceedseveral billions, the business daily said.
The company told investors that "value synergies" are likelyto be "a multiple" of $1 billion in annual projected savingsfrom merging head offices and other cost-cutting, the FT said.
Shell, which is betting on crude rising to $90 a barrel by2020, a key assumption in its move to buy rival BG Group, saidit expects oil prices to recover gradually over the next fiveyears.
Shell and BG Group could not be reached immediately forcomments outside regular business hours.