Chevron to buy Noble Energy for nearly $5 billion in rare oil-bust deal

The deal will grow Chevron's shale presence in both the Permian Basin and the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado.

Chevron agreed to buy Noble Energy for about $5 billion in shares as the oil giant looks to beef up amid the wreckage of the worst-ever crude crash. The takeover is the industry’s first major deal since the coronavirus triggered a severe slump and the largest since Occidental Petroleum outbid Chevron to acquire Anadarko Petroleum for $37 billion last year.

The deal will grow Chevron’s shale presence in both the Permian Basin, once the main driver of the US shale boom but now experiencing a sharp reduction in drilling, and the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado. It will increase the