Shell denies considering buying BP to create a European oil company.

Royal Dutch Shell denied on Wednesday that it was in talks with BP to buy its British rival and create a European giant on par with the US giants ExxonMobil and Chevron, with a daily production of nearly five million barrels, as previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The news initially sent BP shares up more than 10% on the New York Stock Exchange, but by 7:40 p.m. Spanish time, the gain had already subsided to 1.67% or $30.33 (€26.07).

For its part, Shell fell 0.86% on the same financial market, to $69.54 (€59.76), offsetting its losses of more than 4%.

"As we've said many times, we're very focused on unlocking Shell's value by focusing on improving performance, execution, and simplification ," a Shell spokesperson told Bloomberg. "This is further market speculation . There are no discussions," he clarified.

The transaction would have been costly, as experts predicted Shell would have to pay a 20% premium over BP's market capitalization, which amounts to approximately $78.19 billion (€67.2 billion). It would also raise competitive challenges due to the combined company's significant market share in key markets.