Shale driller CrownRock is selling a stake in Occidental Petroleum it hopes to generate some $1.7 billion, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources.
Per the report, the Permian oil producer is putting 29.6 million Oxy shares on sale, pricing the stock at a discount to Occidental's closing price on Monday, which stood at $58.98 per share.
Occidental announced it had struck a deal to buy CrownRock in December last year. The value of the deal stood at $12 billion, including debt. The acquisition boosted Occidental's premier Permian portfolio with the addition of around 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of high-margin, lower-decline unconventional production in 2024, as well as approximately 1,700 undeveloped locations.
"We found CrownRock to be a strategic fit, giving us the opportunity to build scale in the Midland Basin and positioning us to drive value creation for our shareholders with immediate free cash flow accretion," Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub said earlier this year.
The deal was one of the largest in an ongoing consolidation drive in the shale patch that has drawn closer regulator attention. Initially, Occidental expected the CrownRock deal to close in the first quarter of the year but the finalization has now been delayed until the second half of the year because the Federal Trade Commission asked the companies for additional information while it reviews the tie-up.
The FTC has been reviewing a number of proposed acquisitions in the U.S. oil and gas sector amid the wave of mergers and acquisitions that has seen a number of what media have taken to calling megadeals featuring supermajors such as Exxon and Chevron, and large independents such as Occidental.
The consolidation drive has prompted some Democratic legislators to call for closer scrutiny on suspicions of antitrust legislation violations and regulators have obliged.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More