The deal, announced Monday afternoon by Shell, will add 225,000 additional net acres to ConocoPhillips’ already sizable holdings in the world’s busiest oil and gas play. For ConocoPhillips, which also acquired Permian producer Concho Resources for $13.3 billion last October, the outlook is obvious: The Permian Basin is the future, at least in the U.S. In an email, Andrew Dittmar, Senior M&A Analyst at Enverus, said “Conoco is making a major commitment to shale in this deal and in particular the Permian Basin. “Conoco’s ability to pay cash in a deal of this size likely contributed to nabbing the assets at an attractive price point. That is fine in a corporate merger or acquisition of a private company from a private equity investment firm.

Source: Forbes September 21, 2021 12:45 UTC