Marathon Oil Corp. used to represent everything that was wrong with U.S. shale: enormous debtloads, lavish executive pay and a seeming willingness to spend whatever it took to boost output. The company hemorrhaged money, and the stock plunged 84% from a peak in 2014 through the end of last year.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. is buying DoublePoint Energy LLC in a deal valued at $6.4 billion, less than three months after completing its purchase of fellow shale driller Parsley Energy Inc. as it expands in the U.S. Permian Basin.
Equinor has reached a deal to sell its stakes in the Bakken field, onshore US, to Grayson Mill Energy, backed by EnCap Investments, for $900 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been largely silent on the financial wreckage of the U.S. shale industry in recent years, but that may be about to change.
ConocoPhillips agreed to buy Concho Resources Inc. for about $9.7 billion in stock, the largest shale industry deal since the collapse in energy demand earlier this year and one that will create a heavyweight driller in America’s most prolific oil field.