ExxonMobil Corporation and Pioneer Natural Resources have jointly announced a definitive agreement for ExxonMobil to acquire Pioneer. The merger is an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion, or $253 per share, based on ExxonMobil’s closing price on October 5, 2023.
Under the terms of the agreement, Pioneer shareholders will receive 2.3234 shares of ExxonMobil for each Pioneer share at closing. The implied total enterprise value of the transaction, including net debt, is approximately $64.5 billion.
Pioneer holds more than 850,000 net acres in the Midland Basin of West Texas, which will add to Exxon’s 570,000 net acres nearby.
Together, the two companies will have an estimated 16 billion barrels of oil-equivalent resources in the Permian Basin, according to Exxon’s press release.
Exxon’s production from the Permian would more than double as a result of the acquisition, to 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboe/d) and is expected to increase to approximately 2 mmboe/d in 2027.
“Pioneer is a clear leader in the Permian with a unique asset base and people with deep industry knowledge. The combined capabilities of our two companies will provide long-term value creation well in excess of what either company is capable of doing on a standalone basis,” said ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods.
“Their tier-one acreage is highly contiguous, allowing for greater opportunities to deploy our technologies, delivering operating and capital efficiency as well as significantly increasing production. As importantly, as we look to combine our companies, we bring together environmental best-practices that will lower our environmental footprint and plan to accelerate Pioneer’s net-zero plan from 2050 to 2035,” Woods noted.
Pioneer Chief Executive Officer Scott Sheffield commented: “The combination of ExxonMobil and Pioneer creates a diversified energy company with the largest footprint of high-return wells in the Permian Basin. As part of a global enterprise, Pioneer, our shareholders and our employees will be better positioned for long-term success through a size and scale that spans the globe and offers diversity through product and exposure to the full energy value chain. The consolidated company will maintain its leadership position, driving further efficiencies through the combination of our adjacent, contiguous acreage in the Midland Basin and our highly talented employee base, with the improved ability to deliver durable returns, creating tangible value for shareholders for decades to come.”
ExxonMobil has industry-leading plans to achieve net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions from its Permian unconventional operations by 2030. As part of the transaction, subjected to customary regulatory approvals in the first half of 2024, ExxonMobil intends to leverage its Permian greenhouse gas reduction plans to accelerate Pioneer’s net zero emissions plan by 15 years, to 2035.
“ExxonMobil will leverage the same aggressive strategy and apply its industry-leading new technologies for monitoring, measuring, and addressing fugitive methane to lower both companies’ methane emissions. In addition, using combined operating capabilities and infrastructure, we expect to increase the amount of recycled water used in our Permian fracturing operations to more than 90% by 2030,” Exxon said in a press release.
