In a world where the oil industry is as unpredictable as the weather, it's fascinating to reflect on the times when BP overshadowed Shell as the dominant oil company—just two decades ago. Today, the roles have reversed, and the widening valuation gap between these British titans makes a BP-Shell merger scenario worth monitoring.
In the simmering heat of summer 1997, a full-page advertisement unfolded across the pages of The New York Times, a message from the Global Climate Coalition that carried a chilling warning. The US's adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, the ad proclaimed, would spell economic doom. Yet beneath the cheerful visage of children, lay a more sinister campaign—a multimillion-dollar misinformation fest, bankrolled by some of the world's most influential corporations.