Shell Oil Company, a US subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell, remains determined to negotiate a deal to acquire US rival Barrett Resources, even though the deadline Barrett set for Shell to make another offer passed on Wednesday.

So far neither the companies nor their advisers have got together to discuss the deal. It is known, however, that Williams is interested in Barrett. A few days ago, when Williams held a conference call for analysts to discuss first-quarter 2001 results, analysts were accidentally put through to another Williams conference call, for the company's board members, to discuss bidding for Barrett.