Shell says will close BG head office near London by year end

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: A0ET6Q - news) will close the head office of BG Group (EUREX: 1007667.EX - news) , the gas producer it agreed to acquire for $50 billion in February, by the end of the year, it said on Monday.

The oil major will offer voluntary redundancy packages to staff at the BG headquarters in Reading, near London, and has opened all internal Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) vacancies to BG employees, it said.

Shell also said it would close BG's Aberdeen office to focus onshore operations in the Scottish oil town at its own site. Shell will also close its Brabazon House office in Manchester by the end of 2017, it said.

Shell said in December that it expected to cut around 2,800 roles globally across the combined group, or approximately 3 percent of the total workforce. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps and Ron Bousso, editing by Louise Heavens)