LA Times
The deal, which calls for a $3.2-billion cash payment and the assumption of $1.1 billion in debt, boosts the oil giant's presence in the U.S. shale-gas business.
Chevron Corp. said Tuesday that it would buy Atlas Energy Inc. for $3.2 billion in cash as the oil giant bolsters its market position in the U.S. shale-gas business.
Stockholders of Pittsburgh-based Atlas Energy will receive $38.25 in cash for each of their shares, Chevron said, plus $5.09 a share to reflect the value of Atlas Energy's stake in Atlas Pipeline Holdings, for a total purchase price of $43.34 a share.
The deal includes the assumption of $1.1 billion in debt.
"This acquisition is the right opportunity for Chevron," said George Kirkland, the San Ramon, Calif., company's vice chairman.
"We are acquiring a company that has one of the premier acreage positions in the prolific Marcellus" region, Kirkland said.
One of the more plentiful shale-gas regions in the U.S. has been the Marcellus Shale, which takes in large swaths of western Pennsylvania as well as parts of West Virginia and upstate New York.
Chevron will buy a foothold in 1.2 million acres, including 486,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale and 623,000 acres in the Utica Shale — labeled by analyst John Freeman at brokerage Raymond James & Associates as "two of the most economic natural-gas resource plays."
Chevron's move to acquire Atlas Energy comes less than a year after Exxon Mobil Corp. boosted its domestic shale-gas presence with the purchase of XTO Energy Inc. for about $40 billion in stock.
Chevron's investment is about one-10th the size of the XTO deal, during a time of plentiful natural gas supplies and stubbornly low natural gas prices.
But energy companies argue that down the road, demand will increase as the economy recovers.
Domestic shale gas has been freed up in recent years by advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, a technique that uses high-pressure water to break up shale to release the methane gas trapped inside.
As part of the deal, Chevron also gets Atlas' 49% share in Laurel Mountain Midstream assets, which provides transportation services for natural gas in the region.
