Chevron Corp is to buy Noble Energy for about $5 billion, which will be the biggest U.S. energy deal since COVID-19 crushed global demand for oil and sent crude prices historically low.
Chevron Chief Executive Officer Michael Wirth said: “[The Noble] deal ticks all the boxes that we’ve consistently articulated as the kinds of things that we would be looking for.”
Chevron’s shale presence in the DJ Basin of Colorado would be expanded by Noble’s assets. Its work in the Permian Basin across West Texas and New Mexico would also be positively affected, where it said margins and drilling have been “decimated” by the collapse in prices this year.
Last year, Chevron tried to double down on its bet on surging shale output by bidding for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (It was under pressure at the time to expand output before existing Permian production tailed off.) But on that occasion it was outmanoeuvred by a higher offer from Occidental Petroleum.
Noble’s flagship Leviathan field, which is the largest natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean, will also come under Chevron’s ownership when the deal goes through.
For more information visit www.chevron.com
