ConocoPhillips said on Friday that it had received a second request from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for information on its acquisition of Marathon Oil (MRO.US).
According to the Futu News app, ConocoPhillips, the largest independent oil producer in the US, said on Friday that it had received a second request from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for information on its acquisition of competitor Marathon Oil (MRO.US). ConocoPhillips said that both companies received the request on July 11th, and they are currently working with the FTC to review the merger.
In May, ConocoPhillips announced a $22.5 billion enterprise value acquisition of Marathon Oil, including $5.4 billion in net debt. ConocoPhillips hopes to increase its output through the deal and achieve greater economies of scale in the US shale oil and liquefied natural gas fields.
Under the terms of the deal, Marathon Oil shareholders will receive 0.255 shares of ConocoPhillips common stock for each share of Marathon Oil common stock. ConocoPhillips said the acquisition will add highly complementary acreage to its existing US onshore portfolio, increase resources by over 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, and is expected to have an average supply cost of less than $30 per barrel.
Being asked to provide more information to regulators may slow down the completion of the deal. ConocoPhillips said in May that it had a "conservative" estimate for the completion time in the fourth quarter of this year. On Friday, ConocoPhillips reiterated this timeline.
M&A activity is booming in the US oil and gas industry.
M&A activity has been busy in the US oil and gas industry, which started in 2023 and has persisted this year. In October last year, ExxonMobil (XOM.US) announced a $59.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD.US), which was approved by US regulators earlier this month. It is reported that post-merger, the company has over 1.4 million net acres of oil fields in Delaware and the Midland Basin in the US, estimated to have 16 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources.
Also in October last year, Chevron (CVX.US) spent $53 billion to acquire the fourth-largest oil company in the US, Hess (HES.US). After the acquisition, Chevron will own a 30% stake in the Stabroek block in Guyana.
In December last year, Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US) announced plans to acquire CrownRock and its significant assets in the Permian Basin for about $12 billion. Prior to this, ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy were potential bidders. CrownRock is reportedly worth $10 to $15 billion and has approximately 0.086 million net surface area assets in the northern Midland Basin of Texas, which is part of the Permian Basin.