2023-10-12 06:26:15
The ExxonMobil group consolidates its position as number one in the oil sector in the United States. It is preparing to absorb Pioneer Natural Resources, a leading producer of shale oil and gas. The repurchase, financed in the form of shares, will be carried out to the tune of 59.5 billion dollars (56 billion euros). It is expected for the first half of 2024, according to a press release announcing, Wednesday October 11, a “final agreement” in this sense.
On the scale of the group, whose market capitalization is around $420 billion, this transaction promises to be the most important since the acquisition of Mobil by Exxon. Finalized in 1999, the merger between the two distant descendants of John Davison Rockefeller’s Standard Oil required more than 80 billion dollars.
In the immediate future, the upcoming operation recalls the strategy of the American major: continuing to focus on hydrocarbons (oil and gas) and increasing their production, despite calls to gradually move away from fossil fuels, which being the main culprits of global warming.
Massive increase in production
“With this acquisition, ExxonMobil is increasing its activity in one of the sectors that emits the most greenhouse gases internationally.underlines Lucie Pinson, of the environmental NGO Reclaim Finance. The mobilization of investors at the international level for the entry of people onto the board of directors [trois, en 2021, à l’initiative d’un fonds activiste] making demands on the climate has, it seems, not led to a change of direction in the group’s strategy. »
Shale oil and gas require an extraction technique that is highly contested for its environmental harm (and prohibited in France), hydraulic fracturing. However, ExxonMobil intends to further significantly increase the volume of production in the Permian basin, the main deposit for this type of unconventional fossil energy. The multinational aims up to “around 2 million” of barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2027 in this area, located between Texas and New Mexico – compared to 1.3 million today, if the production of Pioneer Natural Resources is already included in the count.
“The combined capabilities of our two companies will generate long-term value creation far beyond what either company is capable of on its own.”, welcomes Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. In its press release, the group also highlights its objective of achieving carbon neutrality for these unconventional activities by 2030. Very insufficient, according to environmental defense associations, since the majority of gas emissions greenhouse effect comes from the products used by end customers.
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