Shale Drillers Baffle Analysts With $7.4 Billion Merger
- Cimarex-Cabot deal adds diversification as peers simplify
- CEO of Cimarex says the deal will win over critics in time
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Shale investors have been demanding more consolidation in the U.S. oil patch. But not exactly a deal like this one.
The merger of Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. with Cimarex Energy Co. announced Monday has confounded investors and analysts, leaving them to question the logic behind a tie-up that the companies say will increase diversification. Cimarex is mostly an oil explorer in Texas and Oklahoma, while Cabot is focused on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale basin in Appalachia.