The week in energy: Big Oil getting bigger in shale | Financial Times

The week in energy: Big Oil getting bigger in shale | Financial Times:

In December 2009, ExxonMobil agreed a $41bn deal to buy XTO Energy, one of the largest operators in the newfangled US shale gas business. The acquisition was the definitive proof that shale was something that the rest of the industry was going to have to take seriously. Rex Tillerson, then Exxon’s chief executive, made it clear that the deal marked a shift of strategic direction. “This is not a near-term decision; this is about the next 10, 20, 30 years,” he said on a conference call.

A decade later, Exxon has demonstrated the truth in that assertion, announcing plans for a dramatic increase in shale oil and gas production in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, where the group still operates under the XTO Energy name. The plan was discussed in detail at Exxon’s investor day in New York on Wednesday, but was announced the day before, just as Chevron was holding its presentation for analysts and setting out a similar strategy for rapid growth in the Permian.