* Shell Q4 core earnings expected at $1.6-1.9 bln
* BG exceeds 2015 production target
* Norwegian wealth fund says to vote in favour of Shell-BGdeal
* Shell, BG aim to have cut 10,000 jobs in 2015-16 (Adds further details on results)
By Karolin Schaps
LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell expects to report a near halving in profits in the last threemonths of 2015 following the further slide in oil prices, itsaid on Wednesday, a week before shareholders meet to vote onits $47 billion deal to take over rival BG Group.
Giving preliminary estimates for results ahead of themeeting, Shell said its underlying fourth-quarter earnings on acurrent cost of supplies basis would be between $1.6-1.9billion, down from $3.26 billion a year ago.
Oil prices fell by another 24 percent in the fourth quarter,as global supplies continued to outstrip demand, further erodingoil companies' upstream revenues.
However, BG, which also provided a short trading update onWednesday ahead of its own shareholder meeting on the takeoverdeal next week, positively surprised investors by beating its2015 production target.
"We believe the in-line performance of both companies shouldbe viewed positively prior to the Shell shareholder vote," saidanalysts at BMO Capital Markets, who rate Shell shares as'underperform'.
The companies aim to have cut a combined 10,000 staff andcontractor jobs by the end of this year and Shell said onWednesday it could further cut combined capital investmentsbelow the $33 billion targeted for 2016.
Shell shareholders are set to cast their votes on the dealon Jan. 27, followed by BG investors the next day, the finalhurdles to be cleared for the deal to proceed, one of thebiggest energy sector acquisitions in the past decade.
Norway's $790 billion sovereign wealth fund, which is thesecond and fifth-biggest investor in BG and Shell respectively,said on Wednesday it would vote in favour of the merger.
Many of Shell and BG's big shareholders have voiced supportfor the deal but a slump in oil prices below $30 a barrel hasraised concerns that Shell may be overpaying for the smallerrival.
Shell said on Wednesday it expected the deal to go throughwithin weeks.
"The completion of the BG transaction, which we areexpecting in a matter of weeks, will mark the start of a newchapter in Shell, to rejuvenate the company, and improveshareholder returns," Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden saidin a statement on Wednesday.
BG, which will report full-year results on Feb. 5, said itexpected 2015 production volumes to have hit 704,000 barrels ofoil equivalent per day (boepd), above its previous forecast of680-700,000 boed, due to new fields that have come on stream inAustralia, Brazil and Norway.
The news is positive for Shell, which is banking on accessto new resource-rich areas, especially in Brazil, to make the BGacquisition worthwhile.
Shell said its asset sales in the past two years hadamounted to more than $20 billion, far outstripping its originalplan to make $15 billion worth of divestments.
For BG, the fall in oil prices meant it booked a $700million impairment charge in the fourth quarter related tofields in the North Sea and Tunisia, it said on Wednesday.
Shell said it expected full-year core earnings of $10.4-10.7billion which would be below the consensus market forecast of$10.8 billion. It will publish full-year results on Feb. 4.
It maintained its 2016-18 asset sales projection of $30billion, provided its acquisition of BG goes through, and its2016 dividend payment forecast of at least $1.88 per share.
Shell 'A' shares were down 5.6 percent at 1027 GMT and BGshares were 2.2 percent lower, in line with a 3.4 percent fallof the European oil and gas index. (Additional reporting by Camilla Knudsen in Oslo; editing bySusan Thomas and Greg Mahlich)
