In what comes as the latest consolidation in the US oil industry, American multinational energy corporation Chevron Corporation announced that it is buying its smaller rival Hess Corp. for $53 billion in an all-stock transaction.
Chevron said in a press release on Monday that the acquisition of Hess adds a major oil field in Guyana as well as shale properties in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota to the company's fold.
“This combination positions Chevron to strengthen our long-term performance and further enhance our advantaged portfolio by adding world-class assets,” chairman and CEO of the company Mike Wirth said in a statement.
Chevron will pay $171 per share for Hess, the statements from the companies said. Shareholders of Hess will receive 1.025 equity shares of Chevron for each of the Hess shares they hold.
"With greater confidence in projected long-term cash generation, Chevron intends to return more cash to shareholders with higher dividend per share growth and higher share repurchases," Bloomberg quoted Chevron's CFO Pierre Breber as saying.
The deal comes less than two weeks after a major rival of Chevron, Exxon Mobil, said it would acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion. According to a The Wall Street Journal report, the deal would make Exxon the biggest oil field producer in the US.
