ExxonMobil merges with Pioneer Natural Resources in $59.5 billion deal

ExxonMobil is buying fracking giant Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion, the oil and gas corporation announced Wednesday.

Exxon is committing about $64.5 billion, including debt, to the acquisition – the oil giant’s largest merger since merging with Mobil in 1999. The transaction gives the company an improved foothold in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico.

Pioneer shareholders will receive 2.3234 shares of ExxonMobil for each Pioneer share they own at closing.

“The combination of ExxonMobil and Pioneer creates a diversified energy company with the largest footprint of high-return wells in the Permian Basin,” Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield said in a written statement.

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Pioneer’s more than 850,000 net acres in the Midland Basin will be combined with ExxonMobil’s 570,000 net acres in the Delaware and Midland Basins, giving the company an estimated 16 billion barrels of oil equivalent resource in the Permian.

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At the close of the deal, ExxonMobil’s Permian production volume will more than double to 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and is expected to increase to about 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2027.

ExxonMobil also said it is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and announced it will accelerate Pioneer’s plan to achieve net zero emissions within 15 years.

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“As importantly, as we look to combine our companies, we bring together environmental best-practices that will lower our environmental footprint and plan to accelerate Pioneer’s net-zero plan from 2050 to 2035,” ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in a statement.