BG Group: clarity required - FT.com What's a few thousand barrels of oil between friends? In the case of BG Group, it is the difference between being a stock market darling and just any old oil company. When the London-listed group revised its production targets three months ago, its share price tumbled 20 per cent. There was little in Tuesday's full-year results for 2012 to reverse that trend; BG's shares are still 18 per cent below their October level and will not be going anywhere before new chief executive Chris Finlayson unveils his strategic thinking on the group in May. BG's essential problem is that it is finding it tough to make the transition from go-go explorer and acquirer of valuable oil and gas assets to ho-hum producer. Let's face it, the one thing an oil production company needs to do is meet production targets, and this is where BG keeps slipping up. And it cannot even blame Petrobras this time, since BG's production difficulties in 2012 were Egypt (technical problems at gas wells) and the North Sea, which alone accounted for two-thirds of the shortfall. Mr Finlayson even revised this year's production target down a shade, to between 630,000 and 660,000 barrels a day, giving the notable impression that it was more likely to be the former. Mr Finlayson badly needs to give investors more clarity on BG. The October profit warning damaged the credibility of its formerly compelling growth story, and this needs to be rebuilt. A lot of the company's £37bn of market capitalisation is tied to the success of future projects like Australian gas and Brazilian oil. Its shares fell 1.5 per cent on yesterday's numbers, but even after the 20 per cent decline over the past three months they still trade at a near 50 per cent forward earnings premium to either BP or Shell. Investors still clearly think BG is going to grow faster than its two bigger sisters, and would love to know how.