The all-stock deal comes as energy prices soar.

May 29, 2024

ConocoPhillips is set to buy Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at $17.1 billion.

With $5.4 billion in debt included, the entire deal is valued at $22.5 billion, and comes as “energy prices soar and big oil companies reap massive profits,” reported AP News. Crude prices have jumped more than 12% this year and the cost for a barrel rose above $80 this week, the outlet reported.

“This acquisition of Marathon Oil further deepens our portfolio and fits within our financial framework, adding high-quality, low cost of supply inventory adjacent to our leading U.S. unconventional position,” ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said in a statement. ConocoPhillips also said that the transaction will add highly desired acreage to its existing U.S. onshore portfolio.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, and still needs approval from Marathon Oil shareholders. Marathon Oil shareholders will receive 0.2550 shares of ConocoPhillips common stock for each share of Marathon Oil common stock that they own as part of the transaction.

According to The Wall Street Journal, ConocoPhillips said that “independent of the transaction, it expects to lift its base dividend by a third to 78 cents a share starting in the fourth quarter. It also now plans to buy back $7 billion in shares in the first full year after the deal closes, rather than $5 billion, and more than $20 billion during the first three years … The Houston-based company is eyeing a $500 million cost and capital synergy run rate within the first full year of the transaction closing, driven by lower overhead costs, lower operating costs and improved capital efficiencies.”

Last fall, Chevron acquired Hess Corporation in a deal valued at $53 billion, and Exxon acquired Pioneer Natural Resources in a deal worth approximately $64.5 billion.