Occidental Petroleum Jumps into Acquisition Mode

Occidental Petroleum said on Monday it would buy energy producer CrownRock in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $12 billion including debt, expanding in the lucrative Permian basin.

Investors are pressing oil and gas producers to expand their inventories following Exxon Mobil's $60 billion deal for Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron's $53 billion agreement for Hess in October.

Occidental will finance the purchase of privately-held oil and gas producer CrownRock with $9.1 billion of new debt, the issuance of about $1.7 billion of common equity and the assumption of CrownRock's $1.2 billion of existing debt.

The CrownRock deal would be Occidental's first major acquisition since its widely criticized and debt-laden purchase of rival Anadarko Petroleum in 2019.

The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, will immediately add to Occidental's free cash flow and give the company more than 94,000 net acres in the Midland basin of Texas - part of the Permian, the largest U.S. oil-producing area.

(Reuters)