Chevron Corp. agreed to buy Noble Energy Inc. for about $5 billion in shares as the oil giant looks to beef up in the Permian Basin amid the wreckage of the worst-ever crude crash.
The takeover is the industry’s first major deal since the coronavirus triggered a severe slump and the largest since Occidental Petroleum Corp. outbid Chevron to acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $37 billion last year.
The deal will grow Chevron’s presence in both the Permian, once the main driver of the shale boom, and the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado.
Its proved reserves will rise by about 18 per cent. Buying Noble also enlarges Chevron’s footprint in the Eastern Mediterranean by adding the Leviathan gas field off the coast of Israel.
“These are high-quality assets at a fair price,” Chevron Chief Executive Officer Michael Wirth said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Monday.
“This isn’t just about the Permian Basin. Noble’s got a very impressive position in the Eastern Mediterranean, West Africa, a nice position in Colorado.”
Noble was up 5.8 per cent to US$10.21 at 11:37 a.m. in New York. Chevron dropped 1.3 per cent to US$86.06.