Chevron to buy Noble Energy in US$5b deal

[CALIFORNIA] Oil major Chevron said on Monday it agreed to buy Noble Energy in an all-stock deal, valuing the Houston-based oil and gas producer at US$5 billion.

The offer values Noble at US$10.38 a share or 0.1191 Chevron share, a 7.5 per cent premium to Noble's Friday close. The deal would value Noble at roughly US$13 billion, including debt.

Noble's assets will expand Chevron's presence in the DJ Basin of Colorado and the Permian Basin across West Texas and New Mexico. They would also add to Chevron's assets in the eastern Mediterranean and West Africa and yield potential annual cost savings of US$300 million.

Chevron's offer comes more than a year after it was forced to abandon its takeover bid for Anadarko Petroleum, outmaneuvered by Occidental Petroleum's higher offer.

Shale producers have been hit hard as oil prices collapsed in April due to the pandemic and a brief price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, leading many companies to seek bankruptcy protection.

While prices have recovered from their lows, they remain depressed as a new surge of Covid-19 cases threaten to stall recovery in fuel demand.

REUTERS