LONDON (Reuters) -Chevron Corp said on Monday it would buy smaller rival Hess Corp (NYSE:HES) in a $53 billion all-stock deal, taking its rivalry with Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) to the next level by boosting its presence in U.S. shale and oil-rich Guyana.
Following are reactions from analysts and investors:
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
Acquiring Hess adds 30% ownership in over 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent of discovered recoverable resource in Guyana and 465,000 net acres of high-quality, long-duration inventory supported by integrated midstream assets in the Bakken to Chevron’s portfolio, along with assets in the Gulf of Mexico and a natural gas business in Southeast Asia.
Given that Exxon Mobil had effectively taken itself out of the running for large-scale M&A following the recent Pioneer deal, we would have thought Chevron (NYSE:CVX) could bide its time, and hence we are a little surprised at the timing of this deal.
It does address the concerns with Chevron's portfolio - namely over concentration in the Permian and lack of depth in growth elsewhere, however it comes at a price given the relative multiples between the two companies.
In the end, Chevron walks away with a stronger, more diversified portfolio, which should bode well for shareholders over the long term, but in the near term, the news could weigh on the shares.
MKP ADVISORS
Chevron will be the junior partner in Guyana – an asset where it currently owns complementary assets in neighbouring Suriname and Venezuela.
Hess has been touted as a potential target for the super-majors for some time; it had been mainly the stance of John Hess as a non-seller that was perceived as the reason why this has not happened before. Entering his 70th year, it seems he has got to the point where he sees a transition of Hess to a new ownership structure is appropriate.
Perhaps, we once again get some pushback about the concept of large scale U.S. super-majors pivoting back to fossil fuel exposure rather than building out renewables etc, but this is more a topic for Chevron’s shareholders and management rather than a threat to this deal.
PETER MCNALLY, THIRD BRIDGE
The real prize in the portfolio is Guyana where, in less than a decade, the country has vaulted into one of the most important growth areas for non-OPEC oil production.
Guyana is on track to have more than 1 million barrels per day of production capacity by 2026. At that point, Guyana would likely exceed neighboring Venezuela for oil production.
Chevron is at the very early stages of leading a potential turnaround in Venezuela where decades of neglect followed by sanctions have impaired the country's ability to reach its oil potential. Third Bridge experts see further potential in Guyana as well as Suriname, further to the east, and Brazil is already established as a major contributor to global oil supply.
The recent flurry of acquisition activity from Chevron and Exxon Mobil reminds Third Bridge experts of the building of the "super majors" that began 25 years ago, an era that transformed the oil industry into the massive companies that we see today.
Back then, the super majors were consolidating to drive costs lower. Today, the companies being acquired today like Hess and Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) have more concentrated asset bases and expertise built in developing specific resources.
VIKTOR KATONA, KPLER
Hess has minimal presence in the Permian basin yet is one of the leading producers in the Bakken basin in North Dakota, so Chevron is expanding its outreach rather than zooming in on one specific play.
The transaction might also create a peculiar coexistence of the United States' two leading oil majors in Guyana... Suddenly Chevron becomes a big player in Guyana just as the country is ramping up production towards the 1 million bpd (barrels per day) threshold.
But it is also coexisting with one of its biggest competitors in the game, within the same project. Hess is geared towards crude production, with oil accounting for 60% of its current output which fits in very nicely with Chevron's similarly oil-focused portfolio.