chevron’s Noble deal looks hard to match

摘要

Chevron has made the frst major oil and gas acquisition move since the demand- sapping Covid-19 pandemic started, but it looks too soon to predict an imminent wave of large-scale mergers and acquisitions. The US major is acquiring Noble Energy in a $5bn all-stock transaction. Including debt, the deal is valued at around $13bn. If the sale closes in the fourth quarter, it will increase Chevron’s proven oil and gas reserves by about 18pc compared with 2019, at an average acquisition cost of less than $5/bl of oil equivalent. The frm will acquire another 92,000 acres (372mn m2) in the prolifc Permian basin in Texas — where it already holds about 2.2mn acres — as well as 35,000 acres in Texas’ Eagle Ford shale, 336,000 acres in the mature Denver-Julesburg (DJ) basin in Colorado, and prized gas assets in the east Mediterranean, most notably a 39pc operated stake in the giant Leviathan gas feld ofshore Israel.