Shale land grab tops mergers as buyers await better oil outlook

Washington

THE buyer's market that the battered US shale patch has become is so far luring more land purchases than takeovers as investors await a more solid crude price rebound before making bigger moves.

Handshakes between US oil and gas explorers have had more to do with acquisitions of coveted acreage in the Permian Basin straddling West Texas and New Mexico, or Oklahoma's SCOOP and STACK areas, than agreements to share a head office and a logo.

"People are trying to find the bottom," said Stephen M Trauber, vice-chairman & global head of energy at Citigroup Inc. "They would rather do a deal when they know they can pay for something an…