ExxonMobil to buy shale producer Pioneer for about $60b

NEW YORK-ExxonMobil sealed a megadeal to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion, bolstering its holdings in the Permian Basin, a key US petroleum region, the companies announced. Under the all-stock transaction, ExxonMobil will buy Texas-based Pioneer for $59.5 billion based on ExxonMobil’s closing price on October 5. The overall transaction, including debt, is valued at around $64.5 billion, the companies said.
ExxonMobil said the takeover, the company’s biggest since the late 1990s acquisition of Mobil by Exxon, will enable greater economies of scale, permitting it to deploy drilling and operating technologies over a bigger region.
“The combined capabilities of our two companies will provide long-term value creation well in excess of what either company is capable of doing on a standalone basis,” said ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods.
The “highly contiguous” drilling acreage of the two companies will allow “for greater opportunities to deploy our technologies, delivering operating and capital efficiency as well as significantly increasing production,” Woods said. The Permian Basin is located in western Texas and eastern New Mexico.