* Chinese ministry of commerce gives green light
* Shell sees further 3 pct cuts in group's workforce
* Deal to face Shell, BG shareholder votes
* Takeover on track for early 2016 completion (Recasts with Shell job cuts, adds quotes, updates shares)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell expects to slash thousands more jobs to save costs if itstakeover of BG Group goes through as planned early nextyear following a final green light from China.
The acquisition, which was announced on April 8 and isbiggest in the sector in a decade, has been cleared by China'sMinistry of Commerce, Shell said on Monday, after earlierapprovals from Australia, Brazil and the European Union.
Shell and BG will now send a merger prospectus to theirshareholders and hold special general meetings for votes on thedeal. If approved, it will face a court hearing 10 days laterand could be completed by early February.
Some shareholders, however, have voiced concern over themerits of the acquisition following the sharp slide in oilprices. The fall in Shell's share price since April means thevalue of the deal has fallen to $53 billion from $70 billion.
Shortly after announcing the green light from China, Shellissued a statement saying it expected to cut about 2,800 rolesglobally from the combined group.
That would be nearly 3 percent of the group's combinedworkforce of about 100,000, or equivalent to more than half BG'sroughly 5,000 employees.
The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company had already outlinedsteps to protect dividend payouts and cashflow following themerger, which include cost savings of $3.5 billion and $30billion in asset disposals.
The new job cuts are also in addition to previouslyannounced plans to reduce Shell's headcount and contractorpositions by 7,500 worldwide.
Shell B shares were down 1.6 percent by 1217 GMT,while BG shares traded 0.3 percent lower.
A BG spokesman said the company would remain focused on itsbusiness plan until the deal is completed.
INVESTOR CONCERNS
The combination will transform Shell into the world's topliquefied natural gas (LNG) trader and a major offshore oilproducer focused on Brazil's rapidly-developing sub-salt oilbasin that would rival Exxon Mobil's position as theworld's biggest international oil company.
Shell has nevertheless had to battle a sharp slide in oilprices, which have fallen from $55 a barrel in April to below$40 a barrel, which some investors said undermined the deal.
"The deal doesn't make financial sense at the current oilprice. You have got to be pretty bullish on the current oilprice to make this deal work." David Cumming, Head of Equitiesat Standard Life Investments, told BBC Radio on Monday.
Analysts at Credit Suisse, however, said the deal still madestrategic sense.
"Yes, it is tough when one looks at spot oil prices ... Weare in the camp of 'Yes', not just because of the strategicrationale longer term, but also because of Shell's CEO andChairman, who we think are the right people at the helm in thisenvironment," the bank said.
Last month, sources told Reuters that the Chinese Ministryof Commerce had pressed Shell to sweeten long-term LNG supplycontracts as the world's top energy consumer faces a largesurfeit over the next five years.
The integration of the two companies has been planned by ajoint committee in recent months but could encounter somedifficulties as BG's small and relatively nimble operations aremerged with Shell's much larger structure.
(Additional reporting by Adam Rose; editing by Mark Potter andDavid Clarke)
